Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lurker19 5365 days ago
Do note the difference between "giving someone less free stuff" and "punishing someone". Schools do not prevent students from seeking other educators.

Any mass-production or limited-resource system will be relatively more beneficial to someone than someone else, and there are many incompatible but defensible ways to measure benefit.
3 comments
godarderik 5365 days ago
Yes, I agree, there is an important distinction between those two things. However, schools still aren't providing each student an opportunity to reach what their potential allows. From my personal experience as a student, I learn new things in many of the classes that I take, yet the information is taught at such a slow pace that it become mind numbingly boring. By forcing smart students to be in classes with their less intelligent peers, schools are imposing a ceiling on what level these students can reach. Even after being a year ahead in nearly all of my subjects, I still feel like I could be so much further than where I am today if I had had better, faster-moving instruction in elementary and middle school.
link
hollerith 5365 days ago
>Schools do not prevent students from seeking other educators.

Except to the extent that locking the student in a jail for 6.5 hours every weekday would be considered preventing the student from seeking other educators.

link
randomdata 5365 days ago
Schools do not prevent students from seeking other educators.

Being a farmer now, I feel I missed out on a lot of education because of school. Planting and harvest season in my part of the world is May and September/October. Having grown up on a farm, there were lots of opportunities to learn, and I took in what I could, but many years of learning were wasted because of the requirement I be in the classroom during these key times of year.

On the other hand, I spent my summers and weekends learning about technology, how to program, etc. It didn't come with the same timeframe limitations so I was able come away with a much greater understanding. With that, you are right that you can always seek education, but sometimes school gets in the way. That is a problem.

link