
Learning by Doing - dewanemutunga
https://dewanemutunga.com/learning-by-doing/
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itsmemattchung
I had no clue that there are schools—primary and secondary—that create
programs, programs that mimic "real work". For example, the author mentions
that the group "9s" take on adult responsibilities: managing inventory,
tracking and ordering products, and keeping a record of sales and expenses.

My colleagues and I often discuss how we would've found it helpful if during
our childhood we were taught pragmatic skills such as budgeting and resolving
interpersonal conflicts—skills that we require on a day to day basis.

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bennylope
> My colleagues and I often discuss how we would've found it helpful if during
> our childhood we were taught pragmatic skills such as budgeting and
> resolving interpersonal conflicts—skills that we require on a day to day
> basis.

This is where many people undervalue the experience of having even a menial
job at school age. I'm sure this school _is_ amazing and this kind of
experience at a younger age sounds great, but the best "real work" experience
is "real work". That where you interact with strangers, adults often from
different backgrounds than you, who aren't present because they're paid to
watch for your interest, where you get a paycheck, and where you can be fired.
I don't think that's an experience for which a school can provide an adequate
substitute.

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andai
Can you suggest any specific jobs for young people?

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milkytron
Based on my experience and from what others have told me, one of the best jobs
if you want to learn how to interact and deal with people is to be a server at
a restaurant.

It takes a lot to do the serving job well, you have to learn how to:

1) Communicate well, both listening and speaking

2) Keep track of many different tasks at a single time (put in orders, take
out orders from the kitchen, get someone extra sauce, etc)

3) How to make people happy, especially when they're upset

Those are just a few things you'll get better at by being a server. I had five
jobs before I started my career in tech, and serving in my opinion was the
hardest, and I didn't do it for as long as the other jobs I had. But I'd be
lying if I said it didn't teach me the most about human to human interaction.

A side bonus to serving is that you'll have much more respect for the people
in that industry. It's not easy, and it's not the best paying, but being able
to understand the waiters and waitresses serving you will help you make their
lives easier, thus resulting in better service for you and those with you.

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coldpie
Completely agreed. I forget the exact quote or whatever, but there's some
theory along the lines of, if you want to be something, pretend to be it until
you are it. You'll fail and suck at the start and probably embarrass yourself
among experts a few times, then eventually you'll get better until one day you
are what you wanted to be. You don't need certifications and job titles to
develop a skill. Just go do it.

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danthewireman
Fake it 'till you make it.

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wingspar
Get a load of the tuition!!

8s, 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s : USD $44,300/yr for 2017/2017
[https://www.cityandcountry.org/page/admissions/tuition](https://www.cityandcountry.org/page/admissions/tuition)

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credit_guy
Real estate in NYC is expensive. I visited only one private school in NYC
where the tuition was about 20k and I compared it with the public school my
son goes to. The private school has only indoor space, maybe about 4000 sq ft.
No schoolyard, cafeteria, gym, labs. All of if would fit in my son's school's
gym or auditorium, with room to spare.

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slilo
That's a very agressive pop-up!

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Keloo
Agree, people who want to subscribe can easily find the subscribe form on the
page (if it's no hidden). It's really annoying to see how now days people make
statistic's based decisions (like using aggressive pop-ups, because they
convert more users).

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SomeStupidPoint
I always wonder how those statistics match reality.

What we want to know is the integral of U(t) for t in [0, inf), the rate of
users joining at time t integrated across all time.

But U(t) = H(t) + E(t), where H is hard to measure (feedback, effects over
time, etc) and E(t) is some "simple" to measure function.

What people actually measure is E(t) over a short time window, say t in [0,1],
because H(t) more or less contributes a constant in such a small window. This
is then used as a proxy for U(t), to adjust their strategy.

The problem comes in that H(t) might dominate E(t) over the "lifetime"
integral of U(t), while seeming irrelevant in the short term you can measure.
(Think users from establishing a reputation.)

If your optimizations from your measurements increase E(t) at the cost of H(t)
(as they often do -- knowingly), then it's possible you've actually decreased
the "lifetime" integral of U(t) while making all "positive" adjustments.

It's the stats equivalent of leaving the trail up a mountain that passes
through foothill valleys -- just going "up" without a plan is unlikely to
climb a mountain, you need some broader vision.

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elchief
Load that popup after I've read the whole article pls

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tmsldd
The best way to learn is teaching ...

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dewanemutunga
True indeed!

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jchin
Curious, what school is this?

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dewanemutunga
It's called City and Country School.

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pauljarvis
Great article!

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dewanemutunga
Thanks Paul!

