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Educating the general population.

giantg2 6y ago
I'll agree with this, but want to clarify that the education I would reference isn't necessarily formal higher education, but educational reforms at primary and secondary levels to include more useful life skills like logic, finance, and understanding of civic duties including the legal system.
- jhayward 6y ago
  And yet, the official platform of the Texas GOP used to (and still may for all I know) have a plank opposing any schools teaching "critical thinking skills". Because, that's just liberal indoctrination leading children away from authoritarian structures of "whatever I say is true is true". All that to say - it's not a bug, it's a feature to many Americans.
  - giantg2 6y ago
    Depending on how it's taught, that could be a concern. I've experienced some bad marks when doing critical thinking exercises in grade school simply because my view didn't match with the teacher. They wouldn't even let me defend my positions, just mark it wrong. This was a common problem for me as I would think out side the box (as told) but they didn't like my answers because it doesn't fit with their view. This still happens at work today. I had a logic course in college called philosophy of argument. It was graded differently. You were graded on your knowledge of fallacies and structures of arguments. You did have to construct some basic arguments, but you could have people in the same class with opposing positions and both could still recieve full marks if their arguments didn't contain fallacies, factual issues, or structural issues. This way provides the building blocks for arguments and recognizing fallacies without indoctrination.
t0astbread 6y ago
Agreed and I'm especially concerned with how little people are taught about IT even though it's an important part of our daily lives. Specifically I think everyone should be thought about: - cryptography basics - how the web works (cookies, JavaScript etc.) - how email works (MTA/MDA/MUA responsibilities, OpenPGP, S/MIME, maybe also SPF/DKIM/DMARC) - TCP/IP basics - how computers and operating systems generally work and execute programs Though I'm not suggesting we should replace other subjects with IT.

I'll agree with this, but want to clarify that the education I would reference isn't necessarily formal higher education, but educational reforms at primary and secondary levels to include more useful life skills like logic, finance, and understanding of civic duties including the legal system.

jhayward 6y ago
And yet, the official platform of the Texas GOP used to (and still may for all I know) have a plank opposing any schools teaching "critical thinking skills". Because, that's just liberal indoctrination leading children away from authoritarian structures of "whatever I say is true is true". All that to say - it's not a bug, it's a feature to many Americans.
- giantg2 6y ago
  Depending on how it's taught, that could be a concern. I've experienced some bad marks when doing critical thinking exercises in grade school simply because my view didn't match with the teacher. They wouldn't even let me defend my positions, just mark it wrong. This was a common problem for me as I would think out side the box (as told) but they didn't like my answers because it doesn't fit with their view. This still happens at work today. I had a logic course in college called philosophy of argument. It was graded differently. You were graded on your knowledge of fallacies and structures of arguments. You did have to construct some basic arguments, but you could have people in the same class with opposing positions and both could still recieve full marks if their arguments didn't contain fallacies, factual issues, or structural issues. This way provides the building blocks for arguments and recognizing fallacies without indoctrination.

t0astbread 6y ago

Agreed and I'm especially concerned with how little people are taught about IT even though it's an important part of our daily lives. Specifically I think everyone should be thought about: - cryptography basics - how the web works (cookies, JavaScript etc.) - how email works (MTA/MDA/MUA responsibilities, OpenPGP, S/MIME, maybe also SPF/DKIM/DMARC) - TCP/IP basics - how computers and operating systems generally work and execute programs Though I'm not suggesting we should replace other subjects with IT.