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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   25742 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 1, 2024

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So you learn algebra when you're nine, because algebra is easy- it requires no real experience of the world. And then, when all the other 16-year-olds are learning algebra and how to write a sentence (really), you can start philosophy and literature because now you understand death and fear and maybe love. And you don't have to start by learning to read archaic English because you've been reading archaic stuff since you were 7 even though it didn't matter and you can engage the material because you aren't just stepping into the cultural conversation cold- you've been sitting at the grown-ups' table, silent and listening, since you were 10.

but IQ is doing much of the work, no, not the parenting? There is so much information for free online and elsewhere, as well as scholarships, that bright kids should not be deprived too much by not having top-tier parenting. Maybe 50-100 years ago it was like this, but tech has leveled playing field a lot.

IQ lets you use the info, but it doesn't make you prefer it to video games. Parenting removes the possibility of video games.

You seem to be assuming that kids will know to find all the resources on their own, and generally do the executive function things a parent would likely be much better at. Parental encouragement, purchase of supplies (robot, pencils), and setting up the house comfortably for the hobbies (desks, quiet space) all matter greatly on top of what you can get by googling "learn to code"

It seems like part of the problem with the Caplan take, is that people imagine wildly different parameters for the parental Overton window.

Parents will obviously buy pencils. The few children so deprived they don't even get pencils from home are given them at school (along with paper, snacks, and some other things).

Most parents can and will get desks and a lower end robot, keyboard, hard drive, or whatever. This is especially true if the kid is credibly using it for educational purposes. Some parents also have better connections, more money, more home space, and time to take the kid to clubs, but this seems in some sense intrinsic -- most parents won't be able to change these things just by wanting to.

A quiet space can be surprisingly hard! Maybe the kid should go to the library?

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