Comment by threatofrain | Hacker News Reader

Comment by threatofrain | Hacker News Reader

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I've had some similar anecdotal experiences in an education franchise, where I've found that it's very difficult to convince boys or girls that math, physics, programming, or computer science is fun or worthy. In fact, I have trouble convincing them that any intellectual pursuit is worthy. Kids tend to enjoy "science" more, but only in terms of what appears to them as fun experiment. When you try to explain anything behind it... it's boring. I'm sure it's similar for the robotics programs popping about.

I am also aware that I am just one more adult voice competing for any child's attention, a noise among a chorus of people all with their opinions about what's important. Boys and girls alike question the immediate value of these subjects. They see them as work forced upon them by adults.

Like you, I have also noticed that the boys and girls of today, at least in middle class areas, often have touch-screen devices as their first device. Those are just game machines with tons of advertisements. I am sure those companies know that they are advertising to kids. The kids love the ads because viewing it means an in-game reward. But that's an aside. The main point is that these devices aren't an obvious portal to software or technical interest.

I have noticed that many schools have a small cadre of children who, by some combination of successful grooming by parents or personal inclination, do enjoy technical subjects and technical mastery. I think at some point, the social reinforcement by that small cadre of children overtakes the importance of parental grooming.

> I've had some similar anecdotal experiences in an education franchise, where I've found that it's very difficult to convince boys or girls that math, physics, programming, or computer science is fun or worthy.

I think kids often operate on simple social heuristics. Guess what it means when somebody tells you ad nausem that something is important to you while his tone, body language and whatnot consistently shows that he cares about you learning this infinitely more than you do? Yes, exactly, this is the smell of bullshit. If science really was that important and if you understood science enough to be worth learning from, obviously you'd be using science to improve their lives all the time and they'd immediately start to monkey you. That's how it works.

I think my parents understood this to some degree and didn't try to shove down my throat things I didn't care about, except maybe for religion. Care to guess how far this one went?

While that may have worked with you, I think that approach would sink a lot of kids. Kids need direction because their innate biological scaffolding or propensities could not have anticipated the hotness of some domain of ability. Left on their own, some kids would find learning on their own, and most would sink themselves.

I think religion is an even worse example. I'm pretty sure that religious views are better explained by parents than by a child's personal inclination. I doubt the Christian children of America were Christian because of personal investigation.

I don't remember any children I've met that started to go to church on their own, but I've met some adults that grew up in a non-believing family and then became Christians, but they have been the minority.

I think, as others have said, your parents and everyone else help teach you, in one way or another. I wasn't brought up in a religious house, but we went to church every Sunday through high school, and I personally believe in God. I really became a Christian in high school when I decided for myself it was right for me, though. I went through a long period after that where I fell away from God, but then I came back to Christianity again. After I came back, even when my father and others had doubts, my belief in God has still been intact, and it is one of the things that essentially drives me even when I've had feelings numerous times that life was not worth living or that I was a failure.

I say all of this, because I don't think some of the people here have any Christians actually tell them this sort of thing. Many in the world just think it is some sort of cult full of irrational people that if they only just came to their senses, they'd stop annoying others and waging war. The fact is that religions are not evil, bad, or wrong. It is people that do bad things, not religions. Some religions may call for bad things, in which case, I'd suggest not doing them. That is a personal decision.

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