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I think about this a lot, too. My academic interests are pretty broad, and I could improve in every subject, so why don't I? I think there are two reasons: a la

I think about this a lot, too. My academic interests are pretty broad, and I could improve in every subject, so why don't I? I think there are two reasons: a lack of focused effort, and the steadily increasing demands of adulthood. I do reasonably okay at self-guided education when I want to, but there's definitely a difference vs. a structured secondary education environment, where there is accountability and other people to guide each other through the process. And, that's coming in to those subjects with already a better-than-average literacy and numeracy; I have to expect that for people who struggle with grade school reading comprehension or math, trying to bootstrap those abilities alone would be daunting. Also, there's just less room for pursuing those now. Lots of people are getting squeezed by concerns that aren't part of most childrens' awareness -- housing costs, bureaucracy, the treadmill of maintaining all the machines that get us through daily life. Those add enormous pressure to dedicate more time towards professional development and "getting ahead", or at least not falling further behind, and that has been eroding all of the unstructured time that I would spend working my way through a textbook (or online class). People with poor literacy are probably more likely to have lower-paying positions, so all of those demands are even more severe. Not that it's impossible. Lots of people do manage to self-educate their way out of poorer circumstances, and certainly the internet has made that far more accessible than it was before the turn of the century. But, let's not underestimate how challenging it is, either.

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
> My academic interests are pretty broad, and I could improve in every subject, so why don't I? My suspected culprits: 1) The massively increased complexity of ordinary living is overconsumining our personal resources. and 2) For post-GenX and later, the erasure of childhood (free-roaming & peer-only hours) sabotages[1] the reward systems (joy) that supercharge early learning. The less joy there is to facilitate learning, the more effort is required (from otherwise overly depleted resources). [1] similar to what abuse and neglect do
- djhn 3y ago
  Isn't the opposite true with regards to complexity of ordinary living? We've specialised so far that most people aren't required to or even capable of sewing their own clothes, hunting/growing/foraging their own food, building their own shelter and furniture. Something our great grandparents would find unbelievable. Modern living is so monotonously boring and devoid of any challenge that people are find more and more creative ways to try and get an ounce of that physical and mental stimulation back in their lives (hobbies, exercise, gaming, etc).

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago

> My academic interests are pretty broad, and I could improve in every subject, so why don't I? My suspected culprits: 1) The massively increased complexity of ordinary living is overconsumining our personal resources. and 2) For post-GenX and later, the erasure of childhood (free-roaming & peer-only hours) sabotages[1] the reward systems (joy) that supercharge early learning. The less joy there is to facilitate learning, the more effort is required (from otherwise overly depleted resources). [1] similar to what abuse and neglect do

djhn 3y ago
Isn't the opposite true with regards to complexity of ordinary living? We've specialised so far that most people aren't required to or even capable of sewing their own clothes, hunting/growing/foraging their own food, building their own shelter and furniture. Something our great grandparents would find unbelievable. Modern living is so monotonously boring and devoid of any challenge that people are find more and more creative ways to try and get an ounce of that physical and mental stimulation back in their lives (hobbies, exercise, gaming, etc).