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0 pointsDalewyn2y ago0 comments

No, I'm serious when I say that formal education taught me nowhere near what the rest of life did.

Oregon Trail taught me more about American history than textbooks ever did, likewise Age of Empires II than textbooks ever did concerning medieval history. One of those Carmen Sandiego games did a better job teaching me English than any textbooks or classes ever did.

And god damn RPG Maker (read: computer programming) taught me more about math than any textbooks or classes ever did. To say nothing of all the games that demanded I learn how to do complex arithmetic in my head on the spot.

Looking back, the core lesson I took away is that you need to find the subject matter fun or meaningful to be able to learn it. No amount of "effort" is going to help if you simply don't, or worse can't, give a damn about the subject matter or the way it's presented.

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mathgeek2y ago

> Looking back, the core lesson I took away is that you need to find the subject matter fun or meaningful to be able to learn it. No amount of "effort" is going to help if you simply don't, or worse can't, give a damn about the subject matter or the way it's presented.

While there are plenty of folks for whom this is true (myself included at times), it’s not a universal experience. I am good friends with folks who find joy in learning no matter how it is presented.

markus_zhang2y ago

Just curious, but once those games trigger curiosities you could still fall back into books and papers which are more in depth.

I feel there are two kinds of academic(or anything technical) knowledge in the world: One is of sugar, tastes sweet but does not provide much depth -- most youtube videos, blog posts and HN belong to this catalog. The other is of full course which provides in depth knowledge, and one needs not only to read but to try and practice based on them -- books, papers and some videos/blogs belong to this catalog.

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