Comment by pwr-electronics | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pwr-electronics | Hacker News Reader

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pwr-electronics

I don't understand why so many people think that real-world problems and "true learning" or whatever have to be mutually exclusive.

My applied probability and statistics course for engineers was all about manufacturing quality control. We didn't have magic urns with colored balls that no one cared about. But we did pull samples off the line for destructive testing. Imagining myself troubleshooting a manufacturing problem made me more creative, tenacious, and engaged than if it was a sterile math problem with no context.

Point is, you don't necessarily have to lose anything when making a topic more relatable.

University education, in general, suffers from the implicit assumption that everyone should think like a savant. It's even worse when a topic was invented or discovered to solve a real problem, as opposed to base research, and the teaching strips all context and motivation from the presentation.

I see some other comments criticizing classes that teach certain software tools at the expense of concepts. And yeah, that's training, not education.

I've literally been told by a person before that because my example used in a discussion had no relevance to anything that might happen in THEIR life, that it was a pointless and useless example. They later toned it down to "not as good as theirs", but I digress.

If I could tell the world one thing right now, in regards to this topic, it would be this.

"You, yes you, have NO RIGHT to diss or judge an example made by someone else; when the sole reason of said example is to try to share understanding of a certain lesson or fact. Even if the example is not as great as it could or should be, the act of yourself judging that example completely ignores the fact that YOU didn't fucking know anything about that thing in the first place; hence why an EXAMPLE was needed. That's all it is, now get over yourselves. P.S. Also stop trying to be moral police, none of you have any right to do that either, hypocrites."

I say this in regards to the world, because while it was just that one person who did that, that day; I have heard similar arguments as per the article title and my own experience of running into a fuckwit like that fellow, just with other people over the years.

I don't know why these people think they have a right to judge everything, since they know barely anything. Which means they have a right to do fuck all, and that's that.

P.S. The hypocrite part was added because a large populous on earth always needs to be reminded of that. Always...

I'm having a hard time judging which behavior is less mature:

* the student who tried to convert their own personal discomfort into the wildly exaggerated general conclusion that your example was "pointless and useless"

* the fact that you apparently cannot entertain the truism that examples which students can relate to are generally superior than ones that are difficult for them to relate to

* your bizarre implied learning process where criticism and judgement are reserved only for those who already understand a concept. It's like the scientific process, except upside down. :)

Two of these are under your control to change.

[flagged]

Somebody needs a nap.

You need to get over yourself, and me apparently. Seriously.

The topic of discussion is the exchange of money for information, and how to improve the value of that business transaction.

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