[extropy-chat] here's how complicated it is

[Lee Corbin]

Jeffrey writes---there are several equally good narratives I could
could enquire further about, but his is handy---

> Having graduated from a typical high school not too long ago, I can
> admit that my "hard time" in that prison nearly managed to sap the
> very last ounce of my intellectual curiosity. Frankly, it's remarkable
> that I have retained *any* scholarly interest whatsoever. I definitely
> don't think I'm a genius, but I have no doubt that I could have
> achieved far more by this time, if I had not been driven to levels
> of near-hatred for the various subjects being "taught" (read: "forced on me").

What sort of ideal situation do you have in mind?  Would
you enjoy the way they teach in Russia or Japan (the results
there are pretty impressive in many ways).

Again, I fear we have the usual phenomenon when idealists
speak up.  They compare the real against the ideal, and---
guess what?---the real always falls short of their imaginings.

Where in the world, or in what historical epoch, do you think
that things would have been better for you?   Here I am taking
a *realist* approach:  don't compare the real against a nebulously
imagined ideal, but compare the real to any other real anywhere
or at any time.

> I'm not saying that public education in general is a bad thing.
> I do believe it's important. But our system needs *major*
> changes at the fundamental level. We need to start experimenting
> *now* with wreckless abandon - I don't think it could possibly
> get much worse than it currently is.

Couldn't get worse than it is?  Now *I'm* the idealist.  I can
easily imagine it being much worse.  But I'm mainly a realist
still:  you think that almost all education in history wasn't much
much worse?  Well, think again.  It was.  And it's worse throughout
most of the world too  (some very significant and interesting countries
excepted).

Lee

P.S. to all the rest of you idealists.  Just tell me anything real where
education was or is so much better than here, or in the west generally.
We should do it here like it was done where?  Or by whom?