Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

IDK why we expect kids, whose brains are still being developed, to make perfectly rational decisions when adults struggle with this as well.

Is there a psychology equivalent of the spherical cow in physics?




Show them the movie _Idiocracy_ at a young age?

Maybe set up a society where intellectual effort and achievement is rewarded and teachers get paid well enough to make being knowledgeable seem a laudable thing?


I think we are observing a shift of tectonic proportions in the opposite direction that is picking up steam each year, at least from the US perspective: flat earth movement, vaccine skepticism, climate change denial, “you don’t need college” meme, anti-intellectualism of the sort of “your educated opinion is no better than my pulled out of the ass opinion”, defunding of public education, calls to eliminate Department of Education… I could probably name more, but this seems like enough.

And this before we get into structural things that seem to be designed to thwart the goals of advancing knowledge economy: soaring costs of higher education, making college loans non dischargeable in bankruptcy, schools unable to eject disruptive students that are at the same time burdened with security preparedness caused by constant active shooter threat.


Ironically, arguably part of the problem was the greater availability of college --- back when only a few folks could go to college, it had a marked influence on lifetime earnings.


There are multiple threats to meritocracy. Nepotism and hedonism are two. What can you do about those?




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: