#politics
I found this opinion piece interesting, and grounding actually, about academic divide in America.
https://youtu.be/Fh1mh6ppAdc
@yogapaddlerun fwiw (very little) I mostly agree with some nuances. E.g: Appalachia is historically distrustful of politicians of any stripe, and has some amazing mutual aid, might say socialist impulses. Low formal education levels.
I think the increased relative cost of higher Ed has put it out of reach and contributed to the elitism vibe, at the same time lower education level can increase vulnerability to disinformation. USA can & must afford to prioritize financial aid for education
@yogapaddlerun ...and IMO that can be trade school, 4 year, whatever. It should include (from High school onwards) information literacy and statistics. (I'm in the camp that thinks math education should lead to stats, not calculus.)
@ChelseaGirl429 @b4cks4w I'm still mad I had to take 3 semesters of calculus and needed to self learn statistics. Way more useful for almost everyone!
@ChelseaGirl429 @yogapaddlerun I'm sure you can learn and use whatever math you want. 👊 I had teachers tell me I'm no good at math😡 now I understand it involves practice and patience. I think stats are important if you want to read the news, if you want to know how many widgets to make, if you want to understand a weather report. Gives folks numeracy. Calculus is beautiful and useful for _some_.
Totally agree about practice and patience. I also had a great tutor who helped me get over my fear of math. I had simply decided that I couldn't do it.
I still have some great beginner's books, including one called All the Math You'll Ever Need by Steve Slavin.
@b4cks4w I would love a discussion about what a minimum basic education should look like now. Also would like to equalize following path of training for future employment in all the multitude of options. All work is skilled work and should be valued by society.
@b4cks4w @yogapaddlerun
Yes, yes, 1,000 times yes! I'm a math doofus that had to repeat basic algebra, geometry, and calculus in community college as an adult.
In calculus I learned to write formulas that described complex shapes like an undulating plain. For me, useless.
But simple probability, risk assessment, and frequency would have been helpful.