4 ms·

imo this is largely because of the incentives around the game of school and testing. If you must wait 20yrs before you can do interesting stuff and you’re eval

imo this is largely because of the incentives around the game of school and testing. If you must wait 20yrs before you can do interesting stuff and you’re evaluated primarily on your ability to maximize your grade then anything that gets in the way of that is an annoying distraction for most at best. Even if you’re a student predisposed to find applications and the narrative of the discovery interesting you still have to focus on guessing what the test questions will be and just doing those, spending mental cycles on other stuff is a “waste” in that environment. Once you’re finally free of school only then can you actually learn based on where your curiosity takes you, though at that point most choose not to - the curiosity having been driven out of them. Makes me think a little bit about the movie the lives of others: > “Did you know that there are just five types of artists Your guy, Dreyman, is a Type 4, a "hysterical anthropocentrist." Can't bear being alone, always talking, needing friends. That type should never be brought to trial. They thrive on that. Temporary detention is the best way to deal with them. Complete isolation and no set release date. No human contact the whole time, not even with the guards. Good treatment, no harassment, no abuse, no scandals, nothing they could write about later. After 10 months, we release. Suddenly, that guy won't cause us any more trouble. “Know what the best part is? Most type 4s we've processed in this way never write anything again. Or paint anything, or whatever artists do. And that without any use of force. Just like that. Kind of like a present.”

skhunted 3y ago
For the vast majority of the students the curiosity, as you put it, isn’t really there. Understanding is very hard work and most people don’t want to put in the work to acquire understanding.
- homefree 3y ago
  Perhaps, but it isn’t helped that spending effort to understand is often in direct conflict with the work required to get a good grade. You’re not tested on understanding how stuff is derived or how it’s used, you’re tested on grinding problems, particularly ones that are easy for teachers to put on a test and easy to grade (if they even bother with that, my worst teachers didn’t create their own tests or grade them, machines did both). In English or humanities you’re tested on predicting whatever bullshit your teacher believes and then crafting an essay that leans into their cognitive bias. I got very good at school and it was mostly by trying to model the minds of my mostly bad teachers and getting good at predicting what they want to hear and what they’d ask on the exam. With that down I could focus personal time on the stuff I was truly interested in (which ironically is what actually had market value). At least in the US public school system this is further hurt by public school teachers often barely knowing the material themselves and that’s if they’re not also outwardly hostile/condescending to the kids (there are always great teachers, but they’re the exception to the rule). The system isn’t selecting for the right things and those with enough money know this and work around it.

skhunted 3y ago

For the vast majority of the students the curiosity, as you put it, isn’t really there. Understanding is very hard work and most people don’t want to put in the work to acquire understanding.

homefree 3y ago
Perhaps, but it isn’t helped that spending effort to understand is often in direct conflict with the work required to get a good grade. You’re not tested on understanding how stuff is derived or how it’s used, you’re tested on grinding problems, particularly ones that are easy for teachers to put on a test and easy to grade (if they even bother with that, my worst teachers didn’t create their own tests or grade them, machines did both). In English or humanities you’re tested on predicting whatever bullshit your teacher believes and then crafting an essay that leans into their cognitive bias. I got very good at school and it was mostly by trying to model the minds of my mostly bad teachers and getting good at predicting what they want to hear and what they’d ask on the exam. With that down I could focus personal time on the stuff I was truly interested in (which ironically is what actually had market value). At least in the US public school system this is further hurt by public school teachers often barely knowing the material themselves and that’s if they’re not also outwardly hostile/condescending to the kids (there are always great teachers, but they’re the exception to the rule). The system isn’t selecting for the right things and those with enough money know this and work around it.