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Comment by samstave | Hacker News Reader

It’s a socioeconomic awareness. If you’re worried about food you don’t care. Facebooks 99% are the poorest and least educated.

I’ve always wondered why face book, a platform which could unify teachers from mit with the poorest students across the globe has never done shit to do so.

They claim to “connect the globe” but the haven’t connected anything.

Where is the teacher hosting a class where any single person from fbs vast user base can connect?

Fucking unreal.

Facebook could have become the global educational foundation with their platform at this point.

But it’s just a circlejerk.

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> educational foundation

Well, that was the original hope with print, radio and TV.

So we mostly get scandal sheets, soap operas and reality TV.

"What we learn from history is that we don't learn from history", as some wag put it.

I'd like to hear a proposal for how print, radio or tv could have successfully served such an end.

I.e. where enough people watched the content, where the proposal was realistically achievable, and would have been financially viable.

Not saying such a thing is impossible but it sure isn't easy.

Hey, don't underestimate it. Protestant Europe got a big literacy boost from the Gutenberg Bible.

And if you dig around the writings around the time that radio and (later) TV got started, you'll see plenty of hopeful plans for universal education.

But after the transient is over, the steady state is kind of underwhelming. People are very resistant to instruction that doesn't suit them, and I really can't blame that.

> Hey, don't underestimate it. Protestant Europe got a big literacy boost from the Gutenberg Bible.

I was responding to your comment saying "that was the original hope with print, radio and TV. So we mostly get scandal sheets, soap operas and reality TV"!

I'm fully aware there's major benefits that have come from those mediums.

> And if you dig around the writings around the time that radio and (later) TV got started, you'll see plenty of hopeful plans for universal education.

Again, you were the one who said it didn't pan out, and you implied the only reason they didn't was because <quote>"What we learn from history is that we don't learn from history", as some wag put it.</quote>.

My comment was pointing out that the reason has to be more than just that -- thus the challenge to come up with a proposal that could actually work.

To be fair, “connecting the globe —> making the world a better place” has always been a bit of a vague vision.

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