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> You suggest trading some of that free time for cash, as if unemployment were something people solve by snapping their fingers and choosing to make a trade No
by throwaway729 10y ago
> You suggest trading some of that free time for cash, as if unemployment were something people solve by snapping their fingers and choosing to make a trade
Not at all; I meant in the form of a loan, where free time is time you would otherwise spend retired.
And I was also assuming that you already have a decent job that allows you to work 40 hours or so and make a comfortable enough living to consider spending your free time learning math.
Frankly, I can't possibly imagine trying to do something like learn advanced mathematics while also struggling with un- or under-employment. I grant that there are probably people far more motivated and resilient than I assume :-)
- bpchaps 10y agoSuch as Ramanujan. ;)
- throwaway729 10y agoSure, there are outliers. My post explicitly deals with the common case only.
- bpchaps 10y agoYes, but think about those in between the outliers. Troubled situations and many cases where loans aren't feasible or possible. I'll pass on a world where policy and education only deals with the common case.
- throwaway729 10y agoOf course. I hate the higher ed situation in the US as much as the next guy and wish we could move closer to the systems available in much of Europe, especially Germany (perhaps without the pre-high school bifurcation). I interpreted this thread as being about advice to a typical person interested in learning math who exists in the society we (specifically, Americans) live in today. For the exceptional, the appropriate advice is of course different.