[ExI] virtual education, was: RE: virtual travel

Wed Apr 1 19:39:16 UTC 2020

I wonder how many of us are truly inner-motivated.  I love knowledge.  No
one had to teach me that,and no one had to encourage me, and no one has
rewarded me in any way for it.  It is self-reinforcing.  Sure, I can come
up some trivia for somebody, but just knowing it is enough.

Maybe many don't get online because they are not like me in that respect.
They need immediate gratification of some sort.  They need motivation,like
a test in a class.  A degree.  A raise at work.  I bought a book for my
Learning class and told them no test would come from it.  Several got huffy
about buying it ($5).  Some might keep it on their shelves till death.

My guess is that the learning style fad flunked because most people learn
much the same way.  It's motivation that matters.  For many if they can't
use it they don't want it.  For some it's time - like the Mischel study of
kids putting off eating the marshmallow (yes, there is a mallow tree and
you original article was made from it - more trivia).  Time sense is
missing in some, like those who don't save for retirement.  Spend money
now, worry later.

Also like my students of yore:  I taught every one of them the best way to
study for tests, and few did it my way - most crammed and did not get any
sleep the night before.  Just totally stupid, dumb, won't help themselves
when their own grade depends on doing it the right way, which, in fact, is
far easier than what they did!!!  Oh well, immature brains - I'll put it
down to that.

I use the web a lot, but when I want to know something in some detail, I
buy a book.  That's what I like.  Books.

bill w

On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 1:36 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] virtual education, was: RE: virtual travel
>
>
>
> Bear Bryant once said that he thought that he was a better coach of the
> average player than of the great player…
>
>
>
> Ja that isn’t me.  I am the average coach of the greatest players.
>
>
>
> I am the averagest person you ever saw, averager than thou (I miss the
> word thou (now seldom used outside of a few oddball competitions (I go
> about uttering the word thou for no apparent reason (strolling about
> uttering thou thou thou thou... (passersby are so puzzled (and mildly
> alarmed at my apparent insanity (but I digress.)))))))
>
>
>
> We have plenty of contests on the two extremes, who can jump the highest
> and who can sink the ball in the hole with the fewest strokes and so on,
> but every sport has a bell curve in performance and someone hasta be the
> most in the center, right at the peak of the performance bell curve,
> looking down in a sense at those who suck the most and those who suck the
> least, ja?  That person is the averagest of all, the cee-est of the c
> students.
>
>
>
> We tried to have a contest to see who was the most average person, but it
> didn’t work out for us: everyone chose their favored event, won that, so it
> was a multiple tie.  Naturally the logical champion of average would go to
> whoever was the most average in the greatest number of events.  Then he or
> she would become the multi-athlon average-lete.
>
>
>
> I was getting creamed in that, but then I pointed out the obvious: the
> most average-lete would be one who is most average, not in a single event
> nor the greatest number of events, but rather the most average in the most
> average number of events.
>
>
>
> Chaos ensued.  Chaos often ensues when I arrive.  I don’t know why.
>
>
>
> >…A related problem:  I am type A – impatient…
>
>
>
> Not me.  I am exactly in the middle between patient and impatient.  I won
> that event.  Winning that event caused me to lose because it put me one
> over the average in the number of events where I was most average, damn.
>
>
>
> >…Are you saying that online education is mostly for the people to the
> right in the distribution?
>
>
>
> Eeeehhhh, kinda sorta.  Prepare yourself Bill, me lad, for what follows is
> the honest insight in all the silliness:
>
>
>
> The resources are there.  If people use those, they move smartly to the
> right on the smartness distribution.  Like many human endeavors, the more
> you know about something, the faster you learn about that something and the
> more enjoyable becomes that something and the more you know about it.  And
> so on.  That’s why we have people who know everything about even boring
> stuff, like rare coins and… dust.
>
>
>
> There are many positive feedback loops in learning, and even in attitude:
> people with a positive outlook tend to look at the bright side and become
> still more positive.  Those whose outlook is negative become more negative
> by always seeing the dark side.  These feedback loops can cause people to
> be unrealistically optimistic, introducing risk of failure, or to make
> themselves needlessly miserable, wasting perfectly good happiness.
>
>
>
> I strive to be exactly balanced between optimism and pessimism.
> Consequently, I won that event.  This caused me to become more optimistic,
> but that subsequently caused me to lose that event.
>
>
>
> BillW, educational resources are there.  They are abundant, they are
> excellent and they are free as a bird.  Some students gobble them up like
> an information pac-man, others have no interest and have never even visited
> there,  They wait for the beleaguered teacher to spoon-feed them an
> education.  The result of doing that is pretty much what you already know
> happens, being as you are a professional educator.  The academically rich
> get dramatically richer, the poor unmotivated wretches get little or
> nothing.  Their time in the classroom is mostly a waste of everyone’s time
> and patience.
>
>
>
> >…If so, then different teachers or methods or something could be
> provided for those to the left…
>
>
>
> True.  This one of the frustrations of modern teachers.  The best students
> are a joy to teach: you give them just a little, just an idea, and they
> take off and fly.  Its fun to watch.  Others sit there imitating a corpse,
> no interest, bad attitude, no motivation, not rewarding at all to teach.
> Fortunately I am a volunteer, so I get to choose my own students.
>
>
>
> >…One things about this:  the curve has changed along the way, as those
> to the left are dropping out at every level…
>
>
>
> A math teacher friend of mine estimates that as many as a third of her
> students haven’t even logged on at all and are doing nothing point nothing
> during the time school is closed.  They are treating this time like an
> extended Spring break.  Others are prospering wildly, all the usual
> suspects of course.  The performance predicted by previous classroom
> participation about is amplified 20 dB.  Academic winners win.  Losers
> lose.  Non-participants join the losers.
>
>
>
> >…I tried to 'follow' someone on Quora and never did get anything about
> her in my email.  I am glad you are following and wish you would comment.
> Do my answers show up in your email. or what?
>
>
>
> It’s a setting.  I had mine set to send me a notice when someone I was
> following posted a comment.  I have that switched off at the moment but
> hope to get active again at some point when I get settled a bit with my
> Markov Chain discovery which is so crazy cool I am struggling to maintain
> an outlook perfectly balanced between optimism and pessimism.  I may just
> give up in that event, recognizing I am the dwarf trying to compete in the
> high-jump.  They don’t even have an officially-sanctioned low-jump
> competition.  I am the current champion and world record holder in the
> average-jump contest.
>
>
>
> spike
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