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Look at what the “elites” do to educate their kids. Do they long to put their kids in front of a computer to play video games or do they pay top dollar for tin

Look at what the “elites” do to educate their kids. Do they long to put their kids in front of a computer to play video games or do they pay top dollar for tiny teacher:student ratios at great facilities with competent teachers/leadership? I can’t imagine anyone dealing with kids learning from home this lockdown and thinking education should be more technologically driven.

taeric 6y ago
It is not that it needs more technology. Education is driven as much from access as it is anything else. Access to teachers is huge. But, failing that, access to educational things is pretty good. I know my kids got better at quick multiplication from number crunchers. Pretty sure I got better at math from as seemingly non math based games as old RPGs.
- nr152522 6y ago
  Double dragon II on the NES taught me a lot about the world. I discovered where “New York” is, what “Nuclear War” is and what a “Crime Syndicate” is, all from the story cutscenes. I also later learnt that, in real life, big bosses don’t just disentegrate after being defeated.
zippy5 6y ago
Education primarily suffers from a motivation and accountability problem. Obviously, this problem can be solved by throwing money at it, but how can it done more cost efficiently so that’s available to everyone? Online education has problems right now because the teachers provide motivation via the relationship, which will always be less evocative than an in-person interaction. It’s possible that video games could provide alternate motivation solution that would be more effective for someone. However, it’s worth recognizing that the wealthy are not necessarily optimizing educational value. A cynical way to look at it might be to say that they are really ensuring the scarcity of graduates and limiting internal competition to make their kids look better.
lordnacho 6y ago
That's not to get educated, that's to drill for exams. I mean sure we call it education, but it's not, it's for making hamsters who will make powerpoint slides when they're older. Real education, understanding the beauty of nature and mathematics, you need to teach yourself. Sometimes you will find inspiration in school, but mostly you are learning how good attitudes like keeping organised and doing your preparation.
musicale 6y ago
> I can’t imagine anyone dealing with kids learning from home this lockdown and thinking education should be more technologically driven. With the possible exception of the social aspects, lockdown distance learning seems like a waste of time vs. self-directed learning. Which could be as simple as letting kids do things outside and around the house. Or maybe providing bookmobiles and mobile libraries, maybe even a small budget to allow each kid to buy some affordable paperback books from an educational publisher like Scholastic, or cheap used books. Perhaps schools could focus on providing resources and support for whatever students might actually want to learn (perhaps from a broad list of options) at their own pace, rather than forcing a particular curriculum at a pace dictated by the school. Technology-wise I am not sure that the current lockdown remote classes are more beneficial than, say, playing video games (or other games) for a couple of hours a day, which would also probably be more fun and social (though single player games are also fine) and more enjoyable for parents as well (especially if they get to play a bit too.)
- watwut 6y ago
  > Or maybe providing bookmobiles and mobile libraries, maybe even a small budget to allow each kid to buy some affordable paperback books from an educational publisher like Scholastic, or cheap used books. Kids don't want to read and read less then they used to. My kids did learned more from lockdown online classes then from games. I can tell this one with certainty. It was less then they are normally learning in school.
- IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago
  This. The biggest failure of education today is that its oriented towards an outcome (tests / uni) that is dubious at best, detrimental at worst OP is correct to identify dev cost as holding the key to software-based education. Here is why: Education today is the remnant of the industrial assembly line model. That worked out great...for fridges and cars. Children are not fridges. Children are not cars. This education where 1-size-fits all produces the worst outcomes. It holds back brilliant students and leaves the challenging cases behind. Software will solve all that due to (eventual) low cost customization. In order for this to work, many planets have to align. In particular, some idealists have to let go of the model where all students should learn x topic. The entire curricula must be on the table In other words, society must come to accept that 1) learning will not be uniform ie some students will get more out of school than others and 2) students will pass on topics we take for granted. Biology , civics, algebra etc....all gone, provided that students can explore AND dive deep into an alternative topics they care about, whether that is mechanics, geology, philosophy etc. In short. Kids today are going to school memorizing some info, yet learning nothing. Thet should instead be able come out masters of topics they are interested in, if indeed that's all they care about. This would be prohibitively expensive to do with teachers as it would require a 1:1 ratio. Software can guide that journey.
imtringued 6y ago
Not everyone can afford a good teacher. Basically your idea is that only the rich should have access to good education.

taeric 6y ago

It is not that it needs more technology. Education is driven as much from access as it is anything else. Access to teachers is huge. But, failing that, access to educational things is pretty good. I know my kids got better at quick multiplication from number crunchers. Pretty sure I got better at math from as seemingly non math based games as old RPGs.

nr152522 6y ago
Double dragon II on the NES taught me a lot about the world. I discovered where “New York” is, what “Nuclear War” is and what a “Crime Syndicate” is, all from the story cutscenes. I also later learnt that, in real life, big bosses don’t just disentegrate after being defeated.

zippy5 6y ago

Education primarily suffers from a motivation and accountability problem. Obviously, this problem can be solved by throwing money at it, but how can it done more cost efficiently so that’s available to everyone? Online education has problems right now because the teachers provide motivation via the relationship, which will always be less evocative than an in-person interaction. It’s possible that video games could provide alternate motivation solution that would be more effective for someone. However, it’s worth recognizing that the wealthy are not necessarily optimizing educational value. A cynical way to look at it might be to say that they are really ensuring the scarcity of graduates and limiting internal competition to make their kids look better.

lordnacho 6y ago

That's not to get educated, that's to drill for exams. I mean sure we call it education, but it's not, it's for making hamsters who will make powerpoint slides when they're older. Real education, understanding the beauty of nature and mathematics, you need to teach yourself. Sometimes you will find inspiration in school, but mostly you are learning how good attitudes like keeping organised and doing your preparation.

musicale 6y ago

> I can’t imagine anyone dealing with kids learning from home this lockdown and thinking education should be more technologically driven. With the possible exception of the social aspects, lockdown distance learning seems like a waste of time vs. self-directed learning. Which could be as simple as letting kids do things outside and around the house. Or maybe providing bookmobiles and mobile libraries, maybe even a small budget to allow each kid to buy some affordable paperback books from an educational publisher like Scholastic, or cheap used books. Perhaps schools could focus on providing resources and support for whatever students might actually want to learn (perhaps from a broad list of options) at their own pace, rather than forcing a particular curriculum at a pace dictated by the school. Technology-wise I am not sure that the current lockdown remote classes are more beneficial than, say, playing video games (or other games) for a couple of hours a day, which would also probably be more fun and social (though single player games are also fine) and more enjoyable for parents as well (especially if they get to play a bit too.)

watwut 6y ago
> Or maybe providing bookmobiles and mobile libraries, maybe even a small budget to allow each kid to buy some affordable paperback books from an educational publisher like Scholastic, or cheap used books. Kids don't want to read and read less then they used to. My kids did learned more from lockdown online classes then from games. I can tell this one with certainty. It was less then they are normally learning in school.
IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago
This. The biggest failure of education today is that its oriented towards an outcome (tests / uni) that is dubious at best, detrimental at worst OP is correct to identify dev cost as holding the key to software-based education. Here is why: Education today is the remnant of the industrial assembly line model. That worked out great...for fridges and cars. Children are not fridges. Children are not cars. This education where 1-size-fits all produces the worst outcomes. It holds back brilliant students and leaves the challenging cases behind. Software will solve all that due to (eventual) low cost customization. In order for this to work, many planets have to align. In particular, some idealists have to let go of the model where all students should learn x topic. The entire curricula must be on the table In other words, society must come to accept that 1) learning will not be uniform ie some students will get more out of school than others and 2) students will pass on topics we take for granted. Biology , civics, algebra etc....all gone, provided that students can explore AND dive deep into an alternative topics they care about, whether that is mechanics, geology, philosophy etc. In short. Kids today are going to school memorizing some info, yet learning nothing. Thet should instead be able come out masters of topics they are interested in, if indeed that's all they care about. This would be prohibitively expensive to do with teachers as it would require a 1:1 ratio. Software can guide that journey.

imtringued 6y ago

Not everyone can afford a good teacher. Basically your idea is that only the rich should have access to good education.