Modern Educayshun

Post Reply New Topic

Somehow you've gone from claiming that schools treat all answers equally to claiming that schools only accept the One True Answer. So which is it? It can't be both. If there is One True Government Approved Answer, then "all answers" can't be valid, or given equal credit. So, how can it be that "nobody fails college" if you can clearly fail college for not giving the "One True Approved Answer"?

I mean, if you're going to argue that "2+2=22" IS a viable answer on some level, can I borrow 22 dollars from you? I promise I'll pay you back the 2 + 2 dollars

A clever idiot is still an idiot. "Danny" is a clever idiot. That's all there is to it.

This is like monkeys with machine guns acting like sharpshooters cos one of the bullets actually hit a target in a meaningful way.

I love how people claim this is the real norm, but have to rely on made-up faux stage-acting to actually illustrate examples of it, rather than the supposed actual examples of it occurring. If it happens so much, that should be EASY, ya?

It may make people feel better to imagine that math is just some made-up hokumus pokumus with no real basis in reality, and that "learning math" just means memorizing approved made-up concepts - but perhaps that's just their way of making excuses for the fact that they're not as good at math as they think they should be. Cognitive dissonance is a strong motivator. If you think you're smart, and hit the wall of not being good at something you think you should be good at, it's far easier to claim the thing is irrelevant or unimportant in some way, than it is to admit that MAYBE you're not as smart as you think you are.

This may be similar to when some people believe that all games are easy, yet they consistently lose, it is far easier to claim that the game is rigged than it is to admit that they do not know enough to play well.

Sure, in an interrogation situation, where someone is torturing you, then it's OK to "see" one answer.

Interrogator: How many lights do you see?

Victim: 4 lights.

Interrogator: There are only 3 lights.

Victim: Oops .. you're right ... only 3 lights.

No one gets to be an engineer following "anti-realism" mathematics, which of course is not practical. Man did not get to the moon with "antirealism" philosophy, so meh......



On the other hand: "2"+"2" = "22"

TUTU$ = CHR$(50) + CHR$(50)
PRINT TUTU$
END

RUN

22




Press any key to continue

Riiiight.... soo...

I'll ask again...

If there's only one true answer, then how can they also accept any answer as right? If all answers are equally valid, how can there be only one true answer?

Therefore...

How can school supposedly be a place that enforces one true answer, AND supposedly be a place that accepts all answers? Like in the stupid video, how can an empty folder, a fully noted thesis, and a doodle, ALL be equally valid, but there's also still only one right answer? It can't be both. There can't be ONLY ONE answer, AND more than one answer. If there's more than one answer, there can't be only one answer. Or is school like an interdimensional universe like narnia?

Seems like you can't decide which foot to stand on. "College treats all answers equal and doesn't teach anything" one minute, "school is a brainwashing facility and enforces one true version" the next. How exactly could it be both?

Which leads me to...



So it seems you want to switch legs as well. You acknowledge the role math plays in science and engineering, and the importance of getting it right - yet then argue in favor of the sophomoric philosophical notion that in the most literal sense, symbolically, "2" and "2" becomes "22". So schools DO teach math, but then should also accept hokey abbot and costello math too? How can they do both? Do you think college has REAL classes, and then dummy classes like the one in the video? Did the smart kid sign up for the wrong class? Was he supposed to be in the "real work for real degree" class in stead of the "everyone is special and right!" class? Or is it that there are some real colleges, and some fake colleges?

See, ppl whine about how colleges are just idiot-mills, but I bet y'all wouldn't go to a surgeon that DIDN"T go to college to be a doctor. Hell, even on here, people treat professional diagnosis as more valid that self-diagnosis, but then turn around and complain about how "stupid" some doctors can be, especially if they aren't trained in autism specifically. In the end, it eventually boils down to, "experts I agree with are professionals, experts I disagree with are quacks, when I agree with someone, they went to a "good" college, when I disagree with someone, they went to a "fake" college".

Now, I was taught to understand that the symbol 2 corresponded to a quantity of two. This was represented visually by showing me "two" of a wide variety of things. Two cars, two birds, two mice, whatever. I understood the idea of "quantity". Any child that can count on their fingers, grasps the idea of "quantity". From that point, unless the kid lacks the fundamental association of "quantity". Now, if you're just blindly taught to memorize the sounds "wun", "tooh", "threeh", "foor", and their respective symbols, and are never taught the quantities associated with them, then sure, you MIGHT be in a position to think "2" + "2" = "22".

But I can vividly remember being expected to count the quantity and give the corresponding numeral. And I've watched enough modern kids shows to know they still do that. 3 ducks in a lake, dora tells you there's three, 5 apples in the tree, and so on. Literally The Count on sesame street, so does cookie monster when he ponders how many cookies to eat. ONE ( ) TWO ( ) ( ) THREE ( ) ( ) ( ) CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES OM NOM NOM!! ! I've taught kids to count. By the time you're thrown "2+2" in like 2nd grade, it's expected you can hold up 2 fingers on each hand, and count to 4. If you can't do this, it's not cos "math is confusing". It's cos YOU have problems comprehending math.

If someone KNOWS that mathematically 2+2=4, and is just making the argument that 2+2=22, they're just being a wiseass. If a 10 y/o didn't get that 2+2=4, they'd rightly be put in remedial learning, cos they likely can't count, or can't read, or both. Cos most kids can count and add and read numerals by the age of 10, if they're taught it. I knew and understood multiplication when I was 10, as did all of my classmates in public school.

And while I've certainly seen some parents who didn't want to admit their kid may have a learning deficiency in some way, I've never seen a parent actually try to argue that their kid should receive credit for "22" as a valid answer to "2+2". And of the parents think it IS a valid answer, the whole family has a learning disability. While you're at it, may as well argue that 6's and 9's are the same thing. No teacher would take it seriously and give it credit. Arguing that by itself wouldn't even garner points in a philosophy class.

It has the same intellectual depth as asking "why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?" It's cute, but it doesn't really lead to insight about anything. Even if we answer the question, all we've done is learn a little bit of etymology. I could point out the irony in the fact that the term "brand new" is in fact really old. Again, cute, but not really insightful in and of itself. It's a thing-you-know, but it has no value.

At best it could be an argument that context matters when it comes to interpretation, but then one should also be capable of recognizing that interpreting math in the context of math is therefore important, and that things can be accurate in more than one context at the same time, even if their definitions are completely opposite within their respective contexts. Just cos concepts are context dependent doesn't make them arbitrary. Just cos the words we use to describe the concepts "big" and "small" are as arbitrary as any other words doesn't mean I can suddenly arbitrarily decide that a mouse is factually "bigger" than an elephant.

One two three ichi ni san ein svein drein uno dos tres 1 2 3 you can get clever with words and their arbitrary nature, but the fact remains is, that the CONCEPTS, are based on quite solid observations, and that grasping the language is not mere memorization, but necessitates the understanding of the underlying relationship. Surely you recognize that the words you use do still have meaning, even to yourself, even if they are arbitrary. Surely everything you do isn't merely memorized regurgitation? A reasonably clever monkey knows that a pile of 4 grapes is preferable to a pile of 2 grapes, even if they don't possess the concepts of "2" and 4" in their monkey brain.

Cleverness is not wisdom.