this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] [email protected] 103 points 2 months ago (32 children)

The original idea behind school isn't to educate the masses. Why would a factory worker need to know calculus and Shakespeare? He needs to read the clock and timetables, be on time, wake up in the morning early enough to be punctual, ...

Likewise higher education isn't about the thinks you learn. It is about learning methods to learn. If you can learn the nitrogen cycle, you can learn our scrum statuses. If you can hand in your homework in time, you can keep our deadlines.

This isn't to say the system is good, but it helps to understand it when you want to criticize it.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 months ago (6 children)

But learning to critically question statements and judging them yourself (which requires some knowledge, for example you can't question anti-vaxxers when you don't know anything about how vaccines work) instead of simply believing them is extremely important in a democracy.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Judging sources for the information requires way less knowledge. To continue your analogy, for most people it's obvious to take your medical advice from your family doctor instead of that crazy aunt in Facebook

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Dont you think that answer is far to clear cut? How about if it's abstatement heard from a supposed friend's doctor and you dont want to get a hold of your family doctor for as inane of a question as it is?

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