'Why I am not canceling class tomorrow' | Hacker News Reader

'Why I am not canceling class tomorrow'

alumni.berkeley.edu

36 pointsramnikarora10 comments

This is incredible, and I'm happy to have read it. The whole thing is worth closing out of a few BuzzFeed tabs for, but the ending lines are my favorite:

In order for you to navigate the increasing complexity of the 21st century you need a world-class education, and thankfully you have an opportunity to get one. I don’t just mean the education you get in class, but I mean the education you get in everything you do, every book you read, every conversation you have, every thought you think.

You need to optimize your life for learning.

You need to live and breath your education.

You need to be obsessed with your education.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that because you are surrounded by so many dazzlingly smart fellow students that means you’re no good. Nothing could be further from the truth.

And do not fall into the trap of thinking that you focusing on your education is a selfish thing. It’s not a selfish thing. It’s the most noble thing you could do.

Society is investing in you so that you can help solve the many challenges we are going to face in the coming decades, from profound technological challenges to helping people with the age old search for human happiness and meaning.

Imo the end is quite dangerous, and in many cases ends up being incorrect. It's the classic view of: I'll put on blinders and not worry about the consequences of my actions now, because I need to ruthlessly push forward so I can get into a position where I can do good for society... later. But often later never comes.

There's a weird fetishism of education. Yeah, optimize yourself for education, remain constantly, obsessively learning so you can become a more valuable commodity. It's that entrepreneurial spirit! The spirit of life itself! (What about playing? Save that for a social media platform that valorizes your free labor.)

Oddly, none of that brought me any closer to understanding why he's crossing the picket line. I can visualize a prof on the other side of the line writing the same thing. (hopefully a prof somewhat more fond of brevity)

Yeah! Math Prof has definitely chosen a side. He obscures that move in a fluff of "politics is complex, decisions are difficult." But politics is everything, and he's engaged in politics knee-deep while pretending not to be. "All I care about is education" calmly states the unwitting Math Prof as education is destroyed to become a hollow commodity for those who can afford it. He's obscuring his politics and hiding that fact that he wants a continuation of the current state of things.

This is why educators get crap wages despite having a union -- because they refuse (rightly or wrongly) to allow the student's education to suffer by striking.

Which means their strikes are never effective.

don't cross picket lines dammit.

This is a huge, huge goddamn yawn.

These students are no more "special" than any other students at any other university.

Even more-so, the students that "made it" to UC really, really don't need yet another person telling them that.

Come on, really? Out of all that, THIS is the message you take away, and yet manage to misconstrue?

He didn't say any of that. He didn't compare his students with others; he compared them only to _themselves_. He didn't mention other schools, or in fact other people altogether.

Really?

I’m telling you this because you all need to know that there is not some great pool of amazing people in some other place who are going to shape the way our species navigates the coming decades.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com