[ExI] my view of education

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Dec 13, 2018, at 9:55 PM, SR Ballard <sen.otaku at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I would say I noticed that something was missing in school, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it particularly. 
> 
> My father is a history major so often filled in other things at the dinner table, and I checked out many “critical” books at the library. My parents always tried to “home school” me in addition to my public school education.

That’s a good father to have.

For those who weren’t so fortunate though what would stop the curious among them from reading and learning more? Certainly not what’s in the curriculum at their school. If they really had an interest — as opposed to being forced to take these classes — then in the past libraries and today the internet would provide them with the means. Such means we’re widely available over the past century to most Americans and now to more than half the world. 

My experience in school was different too. I actually did learn a lot of history there before college and read widely outside of school. But I noticed early, like Bryan Caplan notes in his book on education, that most students learned enough to get the grade and diploma, then quickly forgot what they were taught. (The exceptions were usually either curious/intellectual students or ones who were [impractically*] going to major in history.

Regards,

Dan
   Sample my Kindle books at:
http://author.to/DanUst

* One history major I knew ended up working in IT. Another went into business. I bet they still retain both the knowledge of and interest in their major’s subject matter, but they might have been better served in high school and college by switching majors — if the goal was work in the history field.