[throw6969away]

> The most effective way to learn new things for me, is still to play around with them. Whether it is compilers or a new graphical framework.

Compilers and UI APIs are easy to learn. I did it too. Education is the problem of teaching people much harder things.

> It hurts me to read this

Hey man, look, I was a great student and graduated from a good college with a 4.0 GPA with a math and CS degree, and now I've made a lot of money in industry. I am a huge proponent of the U.S. educational system and of the freedom of the individual to become educated.

But there are hard things you have to do in life; unless your name is Erdős, who, btw, was on speed the whole time.

It was relatively easy for me, but learning something real is something that is hard for all humans. The subjective experience of encoding millennia of information into your fleshy brain. Just like working out. The best way to work out is with a coach or buddy. There's a reason humans evolved to be social. Same is true with educational structures.

Play-based learning is a fad designed to satisfy liberal white women. Real, practical results come from overcoming challenge.

[throw6969away]

> Play-based learning is a fad designed to satisfy liberal white women.

After more research about the history of alternative education, I don't think this was accurate. I feel bad for resorting to stereotype.

"Liberal" is absolutely correct here, see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_education

"White" is iffy. In my experience in the U.S., thinking about alternative education is a luxury that only some can afford to do. Therefore, it is an issue of affluence.

"Women" was out of line. This is not an issue of gender, not role, and I think it was harmful to reinforce certain traditional roles here.

I lied about my GPA btw, it was around 3.8. Math is hard. And I only went to a mid-tier state school. It was only "good" in that I enjoyed it and learned a lot. It was difficult for me to find a job even in the bull market of 2009-2020. But even though my personal outcome wasn't completely ideal, I still believe in the value of structured education with its grades, sorting, ranking, etc. because, at its best, it drives you to separate the learning from the intrinsic reward (which is necessary to learn the boring things you need to), and to simply be accountable for yourself. I don't think another human (besides Thoreau), or play, can provide that;

these lessons must come from the heartless industrial machine.