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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   2475 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 8, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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What is your opinion of "Montessori"? As a label for schools and kindergartens or a philosophy for parenting and education. My spouse is getting quite into those books and we are approaching the age when the kid will soon need some sort of teaching

Pick a philosophy that involves direct instruction and a peer group you can put up with for primary school and, if you are a motteizean, look at dual enrollment/hybridized/etc schooling for secondary.

I guess everyone here are motteizeans by definition. Not American though. Do you mean enrolling for higher level courses basically?

Yes. In America it is generally possible for bright high schoolers to take college and high school classes simultaneously- sometimes literally the same class. In Texas community college classes are free for high school students who meet academic qualifications, for example.

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Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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