A lot of what students learn in school is sheer willpower, and a coercive environment is needed to maintain it.
Let me put it this way: Chinese elementary school students frequently study for 8+ hours a day. No busy work. They’re doing crazy advanced trig that most US college grads don’t even know how to approach. This escalates into even longer study sessions in HS (12+). For various cultural reasons, everyone goofs off in college.
Chinese people maintain this work ethic into their adult life to their benefit. As far as I can tell, it really doesn’t have any negative effects on their personality, and most still look upon their school days fondly. However, the lack of focus on creativity in schools results in lower productivity in their careers. I think it is possible to combine creativity and peer-competition to create an even more capable person, one who combines willpower, creativity, and curiosity. I think it is LS custom to refer to Jews here, who do exhibit all these traits, but my only close Jewish friend was my ex (heartbroken, in a thousand pieces. The wind blows. But the sun rises again), so I don’t think I have an objective view on this.
The lack of coercion in Western schools hurts the gifted students the most, I think. A lot of them just skate by without really trying, which can really hurt them in college or in their career.
A lot of what students learn in school is sheer willpower...
Citation needed. This willpower certainly does not seem to manifest itself empirically in terms of increased wages or career prospects, EXCEPT in terms of how the subsequent degree and certification signals preexisting conformity+intelligence+conscientiousness, which are traits valued by employers.
At best (in any country) I’ll grant that children are heavily coerced to follow arduous orders, and the ones that have the least pride and are most enthusiastic to do that get promoted into top government and official positions, who then set policy so that the next batch of students are rewarded based on their willingness to do pointless work at the behest of their bosses, etc. etc. However “ability to do lots of useless work when an authority figure tells you to” is a very different psychological skill than the kind needed to do actually productive work, proactively, for your or the world’s benefit.
I will do a statistical deep dive on all this later. But this anti-schooling idea is very counter-intuitive, requires extremely coordinated incompetence to work, and runs extremely counter to my personal experience. With the recent Replication Crisis trashing counterintuitive studies that are used to push political agendas, I suspect anti-schooling is simply untrue.
Let me give a personal example: I currently exercise regularly. It is good for me in many ways. When I first started, however, it was akin to torture, and only self-coercion allowed me to continue. I dreaded my visits to the gym, and feared the pain and nausea that would greet me at every visit. But I pushed myself, most out of vanity and partly out of disdain for my physical weakness. After several months, however, the pain began to fade, and soon I started to enjoy it. Without the self-coercion, I would still be out of shape today.
The same applies to my job. When I first started working, focusing on my job instead of browsing the internet was very painful. And doing it for 8 hours a day made my daily utility became negative—I would have paid money to not experience those days. But through self-coercion, I was able to continue until it first became endurable and then enjoyable. For the first time in my life, I feel free—my sarkic desires and my ambitions are no longer in constant conflict.
This is very under-valued skill. It isn’t sexy. It sucks. And self-coercion can only be taught through external coercion, which sucks even more. I absolutely wish I had more of it as a child.
Requires extremely coordinated incompetence to work.
It’s indeed an incredible waste that higher education is almost entirely a credentialing race; doesn’t mean it requires that much coordination or even incompetence. The root causes are simple (intense government subsidies + a natural race to the bottom to be Most Credentialed among the working class), and could only be fixed by people and institutions which aren’t fired if they govern incorrectly. Biden and Xi are simply optimizing for different things than the general welfare of their constituents. You should read this if you have the time.
For what it’s worth, however counterintuitive you find this, I am fairly certain I find the idea that schooling does anything worth paying for more counterintuitive.
A lot of what students learn in school is sheer willpower, and a coercive environment is needed to maintain it.
Let me put it this way: Chinese elementary school students frequently study for 8+ hours a day. No busy work. They’re doing crazy advanced trig that most US college grads don’t even know how to approach. This escalates into even longer study sessions in HS (12+). For various cultural reasons, everyone goofs off in college.
Chinese people maintain this work ethic into their adult life to their benefit. As far as I can tell, it really doesn’t have any negative effects on their personality, and most still look upon their school days fondly. However, the lack of focus on creativity in schools results in lower productivity in their careers. I think it is possible to combine creativity and peer-competition to create an even more capable person, one who combines willpower, creativity, and curiosity. I think it is LS custom to refer to Jews here, who do exhibit all these traits, but my only close Jewish friend was my ex (heartbroken, in a thousand pieces. The wind blows. But the sun rises again), so I don’t think I have an objective view on this.
The lack of coercion in Western schools hurts the gifted students the most, I think. A lot of them just skate by without really trying, which can really hurt them in college or in their career.
Citation needed. This willpower certainly does not seem to manifest itself empirically in terms of increased wages or career prospects, EXCEPT in terms of how the subsequent degree and certification signals preexisting conformity+intelligence+conscientiousness, which are traits valued by employers.
At best (in any country) I’ll grant that children are heavily coerced to follow arduous orders, and the ones that have the least pride and are most enthusiastic to do that get promoted into top government and official positions, who then set policy so that the next batch of students are rewarded based on their willingness to do pointless work at the behest of their bosses, etc. etc. However “ability to do lots of useless work when an authority figure tells you to” is a very different psychological skill than the kind needed to do actually productive work, proactively, for your or the world’s benefit.
I will do a statistical deep dive on all this later. But this anti-schooling idea is very counter-intuitive, requires extremely coordinated incompetence to work, and runs extremely counter to my personal experience. With the recent Replication Crisis trashing counterintuitive studies that are used to push political agendas, I suspect anti-schooling is simply untrue.
Let me give a personal example: I currently exercise regularly. It is good for me in many ways. When I first started, however, it was akin to torture, and only self-coercion allowed me to continue. I dreaded my visits to the gym, and feared the pain and nausea that would greet me at every visit. But I pushed myself, most out of vanity and partly out of disdain for my physical weakness. After several months, however, the pain began to fade, and soon I started to enjoy it. Without the self-coercion, I would still be out of shape today.
The same applies to my job. When I first started working, focusing on my job instead of browsing the internet was very painful. And doing it for 8 hours a day made my daily utility became negative—I would have paid money to not experience those days. But through self-coercion, I was able to continue until it first became endurable and then enjoyable. For the first time in my life, I feel free—my sarkic desires and my ambitions are no longer in constant conflict.
This is very under-valued skill. It isn’t sexy. It sucks. And self-coercion can only be taught through external coercion, which sucks even more. I absolutely wish I had more of it as a child.
It’s indeed an incredible waste that higher education is almost entirely a credentialing race; doesn’t mean it requires that much coordination or even incompetence. The root causes are simple (intense government subsidies + a natural race to the bottom to be Most Credentialed among the working class), and could only be fixed by people and institutions which aren’t fired if they govern incorrectly. Biden and Xi are simply optimizing for different things than the general welfare of their constituents. You should read this if you have the time.
For what it’s worth, however counterintuitive you find this, I am fairly certain I find the idea that schooling does anything worth paying for more counterintuitive.