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We have the internet now, arguably even more information and more accessible than the library. And yet, how many people end up more ignorant after "doing their

We have the internet now, arguably even more information and more accessible than the library. And yet, how many people end up more ignorant after "doing their research" online than they were before they started? The problem with self-education is that there is at least equal parts information and misinformation available. Part of a structured education like university is both filtering out the cruft and teaching people how to filter out the junk on their own. It's not only about being exposed to facts to memorize.

mikece 4y ago
Where education fails is teaching people how to think. What good is access to information if you don't know how to process it? What good is access to facts and data when you cannot define what truth even is? (Your use of the term "contrapositive" tells me you have studied at least a little philosophy... hopefully in the Aristotelian vein.)
- IceMetalPunk 4y ago
  > Where education fails is teaching people how to think. I disagree with this, and in fact, it's my point. I did study philosophy -- at uni. But I didn't learn about contrapositives in that class, I learned about it in a dedicated Critical Thinking course -- also at uni. I also took a couple of formal logic courses and a few psychology courses there, all electives, and none related to my career (except maybe tangentially in the formal logic of computation). I learned so much in these courses about not only how to think, but common ways people incorrectly think and how to notice and avoid that. I even learned theories of the neurology behind why some of those common mistakes happen, and the importance of each step in the scientific method regarding which of these fallacies each attempts to counteract. Public K-12 education may fail to teach people how to think, but high-quality universities do not. Which is my point: higher education is so important and should be as accessible to as many people as possible if we're to create the best society we can for ourselves and others.
  - docmechanic 4y ago
    +1

mikece 4y ago

Where education fails is teaching people how to think. What good is access to information if you don't know how to process it? What good is access to facts and data when you cannot define what truth even is? (Your use of the term "contrapositive" tells me you have studied at least a little philosophy... hopefully in the Aristotelian vein.)

IceMetalPunk 4y ago
> Where education fails is teaching people how to think. I disagree with this, and in fact, it's my point. I did study philosophy -- at uni. But I didn't learn about contrapositives in that class, I learned about it in a dedicated Critical Thinking course -- also at uni. I also took a couple of formal logic courses and a few psychology courses there, all electives, and none related to my career (except maybe tangentially in the formal logic of computation). I learned so much in these courses about not only how to think, but common ways people incorrectly think and how to notice and avoid that. I even learned theories of the neurology behind why some of those common mistakes happen, and the importance of each step in the scientific method regarding which of these fallacies each attempts to counteract. Public K-12 education may fail to teach people how to think, but high-quality universities do not. Which is my point: higher education is so important and should be as accessible to as many people as possible if we're to create the best society we can for ourselves and others.
- docmechanic 4y ago
  +1