The Total Abject Failure of Formal Education
And the neither straightforward nor difficult path to getting it right.
For most of human history, education has consisted of little more than on the job training. This can be generalized from our hunting, gathering, bow-shooting ancestors to the mediaeval craftsman and clergy, and roughly up to the pirates who founded the colonial trading companies that served as Europe’s first line of territorial expansion.
During the industrial revolution however, something rather different happened. Children were offered and later mandated to go to school. This had many positive affects such as providing a “safe” space from their brains and bodies to mature into adulthood before they were finally allowed into the factories of the Industrial Revolution at the ripe old age of 16.
Further, it had the knock-on affect of making the lives of employers somewhat easier. New employees needed less training on the absolute basics of reading, writing, and addition - making them more profitable investments.
Sadly however, as knowledge got more complex and specialized over the 20th to the 21st century, schooling and education methods did not.
Knowledge work relies heavily on the use of mental modelling from idea generation to product fulfillment. Unfortunately, as one study (here) outlines in detail, people of all school levels/ages are highly ineffective at transferring what they learn in the classroom from one context to another (i.e if you learn how to calculate the slope of a roof, it is unlikely you will be able to find the slope of a slide even though the methods and problem structure are the same).
The results of the study found that people were unable to transfer their skills from one context to another for two reasons. First, they were focusing on the small details of questions and trying to relate them to past experience - like thinking the slope of a line is steeper because it longer (since larger hills are more tiring to climb). Second, when asked in detail, it was discovered that they didn’t really understand the basics of the problem, despite being able to solve it reliably in one special context.
This is the equivalent of knowing how to ride a bike, but not actually understanding the mechanics well enough to teach it to a small child afraid of falling over.
According to Scott Young’s excellent book: Ultralearning, this is true of any skill.
In order to use your understanding of one knowledge space to solve problems in another, you need intuition. This comes from understanding a something so completely, that you can imagine how parts of it would apply to something else, even if the connection has never been explicitly made.
So Where Does Complete Understanding Come From?
From reading Ultralearning and doing some investigation into the many failed attempts at transfer experiments I have concluded that deep understanding relies on three things: actually caring, meticulous study, and keeping good notes.
How Do I Actually Care?
It starts with focusing seriously on things you enjoy, and not focusing on things you don’t. This is where the “Total Abject Failure” in the title starts. This is something Plato talked about in The Republic. Do not force people to act against their own inherent desire. The same should apply everywhere.
If you find yourself in a position of being forced to learn something, find a way to make it meaningful to you. Think about how complete understanding makes your own life easier, happier, or more profitable. Consider writing a few social media posts or an essay and see how excited you get the more you think about it.
If you can’t, you should probably try and get yourself out of that situation.
How do I study meticulously?
Most likely, you have heard about two kinds of studying - passive and active. To study actively means to avoid distraction, do problem drills, take actual notes, and when some new and unfamiliar appears pay special attention.
Here what special attention really means according to Scott Young.
Write out everything you think you know about a topic as if you are trying to explain to someone with no other material..
Check the source material and compare, seeking meaningful differences between what you know and don’t know.
Look at an example problem and try to solve it without look at the solution. Then go back to the example and see where you went wrong. You either made a silly procedural error and you just need to more of the same example problems, or there is a sub-skill that needs work.
Make a list of all the sub-skills involved and work through a few examples of each without help.
\(x = 3^3\)To solve this you need to know: how to count, how to add, and how to multiply. Do practice drills until you are satisfied. Then go back to the other subject.
Continue drills of examples until there are no more procedural mistakes, or knowledge gaps.
Finally, write out your own example in detail that you could explain to someone with no prior knowledge of the subject. This allows you to have a short example in case you need to quickly relearn the skill/idea.
Obviously you won’t need this all the time. This procedure is for when you are so stuck there is literally no point in moving on until you get un-stuck.
It does take time, but a lot less than cramming for an exam, forgetting afterwards, then having to go back and relearn from scratch when you need the skills for another course or work.
Final Thoughts.
This post has been somewhat different from the usual home finance content but I think the return on investment of actually being able to use and remember everything you learn is pretty clear.
What my reading in the field has really led to conclude is that our education system needs a colossal makeover to bring it into the 21st century.
Let me know in the comments below if it makes more sense to take some risks for the future or continue with the stable mediocrity that we currently work with now.
See you again next week!
James R. Davies