Similarly is the re-framing, “what is the actual decision I am making?” One friend was telling me, “This linear algebra class is a waste of my time, I’d get more by skipping lecture and reading the book.” When I asked him if he actually thought he’d read the book if he didn’t go to lecture, he said probably not. Here, it felt like the choice was, “Go to lecture, or not?” but it would be better framed as, “Given I’m trying to learn linear algebra, but feasible paths do I have for learning it?” If you don’t actually expect to be able to self-study, then you no longer can think of “just not going to lecture” as an option.
Similarly is the re-framing, “what is the actual decision I am making?” One friend was telling me, “This linear algebra class is a waste of my time, I’d get more by skipping lecture and reading the book.” When I asked him if he actually thought he’d read the book if he didn’t go to lecture, he said probably not. Here, it felt like the choice was, “Go to lecture, or not?” but it would be better framed as, “Given I’m trying to learn linear algebra, but feasible paths do I have for learning it?” If you don’t actually expect to be able to self-study, then you no longer can think of “just not going to lecture” as an option.