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   myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 17-Feb-2025 21:52:03 JST myrmepropagandist

   Saw a post the other day: "I'm so glad I learned what a parallelogram is and NOT how to do my taxes in school."

   Generally, people who say such things don't know what a parallelogram is OR how to do their taxes. They have been failed twice. They were presented with the signifiers of a liberal arts education but received none of the substance.

   This isn't their fault and replacing alienating signifiers of a liberals arts education with signifiers "trades training" won't do what they think.

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 01:24:32 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     I have worked with idealistic people who wanted to make education "more relevant" for students in inner city schools. They could see the kids were really NOT getting the liberal arts education & the power that comes with such an education. Thought "well at least I could teach them to budget better" These people also tended to think that poor people are bad at managing their money (I find the opposite is the case, poor people are experts at managing money, making it do more.)

     The kids HATED it.

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 01:24:33 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     In some schools education is just ticking of boxes for topics. The classes are too large, the experienced teachers too few, the administration is too focused on switching textbooks every two years to "solve the problem" rather than cultivating schools as learning communities. Those who are most invested in teaching, leave and find places where they can really teach.

     "I'm so glad I learned how do 'do my taxes' in school and not how to assess if an argument is true or false for myself."

     Bill repeated this.