In the same line of thinking, I can remember most of my classes from high school. But that doesn't mean just being able to recall something made it a good use o

In the same line of thinking, I can remember most of my classes from high school. But that doesn't mean just being able to recall something made it a good use of my time. For example, Spanish class. Now some people are fine with the language classes effectively just being a deep social studies curriculum around one culture where most of the time is spent on rote memorization for arbitrary reasons, but while I can remember my vocabulary, I can't speak real Spanish at all. But then again, I never did in class either. 5 years of Spanish, including two required semesters in college, and if I hear a Spanish conversation I'm completely lost. If they slow down I can translate the words in my brain bank and figure it out, but I never spoke the language. In the same line of thinking, I read Shakespeare, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, Uncle Toms Cabin, etc and never actually got anything more than factual recall of the story plots to show for it. Of course I remember the math, because I liked the math and specialized in the math and went into software in part due to the math. But the entirety of HN is deeply biased because almost anyone here is an intellectual who likes knowledge in general, so they didn't mind the English and Reading and Social Studies classes even if they didn't directly contribute to their future employability or character. But most kids are not like that. It requires both luck and intellect to realize that you should make the most of the prison you are stuck in for your childhood. Many don't get lucky, and the mental synapses that would lead them to embrace the education system to extract value from it have a hostile reaction and abandon it. And that doesn't mean they are dumb, it means they didn't get the right combination of random teachers to inspire them. If they could be inspired at all - it requires a specific brand of personality to be compelled into a repetitive environment and find value in it. Some just won't be able to no matter what. None of it changes the fundamental flaw in modern education, which is the need to inspire children to learn the things that interest them most and learn about that. And to try to inspire them to find interest in all the things we routinely parrot from their textbooks and lectures onto tests for them to have a "placement" on. And if they don't? The parroting is rarely doing any good, and is only doing long term damage to the childs ability to reason and have a passion for learning. I don't think knowing the plot to Uncle Toms Cabin is worth that.