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I was homeschooled up until high school, and more or less allowed to study whatever I found interesting. When I entered high school I tested well ahead of my p

I was homeschooled up until high school, and more or less allowed to study whatever I found interesting. When I entered high school I tested well ahead of my peers academically in most areas- taught myself to program a computer when I was 8- but, I didn't do well at all in terms of grades because I was never able to get used to studying what I was told to study instead of whatever I found fascinating. To this day, my work is somewhat sloppy unless I find it personally interesting. The fact is that to do well in our society you need heavy, heavy doses of obedience and conformity- originality and passion are sharply discouraged. I have a feeling I'm really not that special in this regard though- I think most people feel kind of crushed in their daily lives, whether they were homeschooled as children or not.

ubu7737 9y ago
My experience is very similar to yours. I see my peers as too-easily crushed most of the time, and insist on my own way more than most.
xkcd-sucks 9y ago
The flip side of this is really unfortunate, though. Sometimes people don't feel passion about the fundamental underpinnings of something they feel passionate about, e.g. they want to build brain interfaces but throw a tantrum when you try to teach them about biochemistry. Eventually they do learn the underpinnings of their passion, but are left with gaps in their knowledge which means they simply don't see solutions. Human intelligence is just pattern matching, and you do better pattern matching when you memorize a bunch of stuff even if it's boring. The other part is that sometimes stuff just sucks to learn/do and it must get done-- metaphorically, taking out the trash, cleaning etc. Somebody that does all the fun stuff and disappears when it's time do do the boring stuff is a liability. Doing only stuff that one feels passion about is a privilege that very few people are skilled/fortunate abough to enjoy.
- fallingfrog 9y ago
  Yeah, I'll admit these are good points (I upvoted your answer). However, I'd propose that having a teacher who could sell other topics and make them interesting too might make the other stuff less boring- ultimately forcing your students to memorize material they find boring is a failure on some level or another.

ubu7737 9y ago

My experience is very similar to yours. I see my peers as too-easily crushed most of the time, and insist on my own way more than most.

xkcd-sucks 9y ago

The flip side of this is really unfortunate, though. Sometimes people don't feel passion about the fundamental underpinnings of something they feel passionate about, e.g. they want to build brain interfaces but throw a tantrum when you try to teach them about biochemistry. Eventually they do learn the underpinnings of their passion, but are left with gaps in their knowledge which means they simply don't see solutions. Human intelligence is just pattern matching, and you do better pattern matching when you memorize a bunch of stuff even if it's boring. The other part is that sometimes stuff just sucks to learn/do and it must get done-- metaphorically, taking out the trash, cleaning etc. Somebody that does all the fun stuff and disappears when it's time do do the boring stuff is a liability. Doing only stuff that one feels passion about is a privilege that very few people are skilled/fortunate abough to enjoy.

fallingfrog 9y ago
Yeah, I'll admit these are good points (I upvoted your answer). However, I'd propose that having a teacher who could sell other topics and make them interesting too might make the other stuff less boring- ultimately forcing your students to memorize material they find boring is a failure on some level or another.