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Comment by dominostars | Hacker News Reader

This system and our current system face the same fundamental issue: how do you determine that a student has 'leveled up'? If what gives you 'experience' is flawed, it won't really matter whether a student is getting a level or a letter grade.

Also, if you want to encourage students to try stuff multiple times, you'd have to make sure 'not leveling up' doesn't equate to 'staying back a grade'. Students won't be encouraged to really learn what they need to, but just to get through things as quickly as possible, because Harvard only accepts people who are level 10 in math and science.

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Obviously admission requirements will have to change.

My understanding of levels is like the Euler challenge. http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=problems&page=...

For example, leveling up in Calculus would be about solving problems, putting calculus into practice, writing a project using learnt concepts.

Determining if a student has leveled up is easy, they just do. They solve the problem they're given, they complete their projects.

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The idea of customized education, choosing levels and perks and having a clear organization of how things are connected e.g how many levels do I have to complete before I can do project X or understand concept Y

Levels can help understand associations between subjects. Student would build mental models of how things are connected instead of applying formulas on equations like calculators.

I never understood why some subjects were more important than others. You could live your entire life without understanding physics or economics.

When it comes to education, I would rather take choice and exploration over enforcement and standardization.

PS: Reply to your comment is the first part. The rest is just my plug

> Obviously admission requirements will have to change.

This is where the focus needs to be. Big colleges get an enormous amount of applications. They do not have the man power to deeply analyze each candidate. So, they use metrics to filter candidates, such as required course work and a minimum GPA. The current high school curriculum is largely dictated by this, and I don't see that changing with your system because the incentives are the same, whether you call it 'passing an AP calculus test' or 'becoming a level 9 Math student'.

> For example, leveling up in Calculus would be about solving problems, putting calculus into practice, writing a project using learnt concepts.

This isn't that different from how schools work today. How was your grade decided in Calculus? By solving calculus problems. You don't necessarily put it into practice, or write a project, but teachers could certainly assign those things to you. Many science classes give you open ended science projects.

I agree with your intent, and I like you way of thinking, I just don't see it doing away with enforcement and standardization. Yet.

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