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Comment by vedmakk | Hacker News Reader

> you have to let go of the idea that you first acquire skills and basic knowledge and then solve problems. The order reverses.

^ this

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You will always need some fundamental basis of understanding. You cannot bake a new kind of cake if you do not know what preheating is. I believe that is why they give the PhD example. The bulk of education comes before a PhD. You cannot start with a complex problem and be expected to solve it without acquiring knowledge beforehand.

The most instructive kind of problem solving is solving problems badly and learning why you did a bad job. Do that enough times ina row and they call it a career.

This. But then I have a very hands-on learning style - I cannot learn things by watching (or reading about) others doing it. I have to mess one up myself first.

you have to know the answer is 4 before learning to add 2 + 2. see how that sounds?

If you want masses of people to be unable to think for themselves, be dependent on you for answers, and be unable to tell when you lie to them it's a very good idea to prioritize having an answer over understanding the steps needed to arrive at it.

The death of critical thinking. There are days when my sons have a hard time in school just because they ask questions, want explanations and to be given background. It turns out the current generation of teachers may already not be able to supply any of those.

You need to know that addition is a thing and have reasonable confidence that 2+2=4 before attempting 2+3

But that is exactly how we learn this stuff.

As kids, we know what 4 is before addition is even mentioned. And we can count those 2 marbles and those 2 marbles and then those 4 marbles before learning the "+" sign.

If you think about it, we must know what 2 and 4 mean before we can learn what + means.

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