“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

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August 2001 - June 2017

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To everyone who joined these forums at some point, and got discouraged by the negativity and left after a while (or even got literally scared off): I'm sorry.

I wasn't good enough at encouraging people to be kinder, and removing people who refuse to be kind. Encouraging people is hard, and removing people creates conflict, and I hate conflict... so that's why I wasn't better at it.

I was a very, very sensitive teen. The atmosphere of this forum as it is now, if it had existed in 1996, would probably have upset me far more than it would have helped.

I can handle quite a lot of negativity and even abuse now, but that isn't the point. I want to help people. I want to help the people who need it the most, and I want to help people like the 1996 version of me.

I'm still figuring out the best way to do that, but as it is now, these forums are doing more harm than good, and I can't keep running them.

Thank you to the few people who have tried to understand my point of view so far. I really, really appreciate you guys. You are beautiful people.

Everyone else: If after everything I've said so far, you still don't understand my motivations, I think it's unlikely that you will. We're just too different. Maybe someday in the future it might make sense, but until then, there's no point in arguing about it. I don't have the time or the energy for arguing anymore. I will focus my time and energy on people who support me, and those who need help.

-SoulRiser

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Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
Author	Message

True Scotsman

Posts: 1,238
Joined: Nov 2012

Thanks: 918
Given 474 thank(s) in 299 post(s)

Post: #7

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

(03-07-2016 02:08 PM)TheCancer Wrote: The theory of learning styles is based on pseudoscience

http://www.skeptic.com/insight/the-myth-...ng-styles/

Question - can the effectiveness of learning really be quantified? Presumably this was measured by means of a test, which is skewable by the student just being shit at testing or having something bad happen that day.

And is knowledge transmission efficiency really all we're after here? Forcing a child to learn something in a way they hate (regardless of effectiveness or lack thereof) mostly just teaches them that learning sucks and isn't worth their time, and that's immesurably more damage than a few misremembered facts.

Hello, traveler.

This is an ancient account I have not used in a long time. My views have changed much in the intervening months and years.

Nonetheless, I refuse to clean it up. Pretending that I've held my current views since the beginning of time is what we in the industry call a lie. Asking people to do so contributes to moralistic self-loathing. "See, those people have nothing damning! I do! I'm truly vile!"

Because you can never be a good person with a single blemish on the moral record, I thought that simply entertaining some thoughts made me irredeemable. Though I don't care for his writing style, William Faulkner presents a good counterexample. He went from being a typical Southern racist to supporting the civil rights movement. These days we'd yell at him for that, probably.

People are allowed to change their views.

Nevertheless, this period of my life has informed some of how I am today. In good ways and bad ways. To purge it would be to do a disservice to history. Perhaps it will not make anyone sympathetic, but it may help someone understand.

If, after reading all this, you still decide to use the post above as evidence that I am evil today, ask yourself if you have never disagreed with the moral code you now follow. In all likelihood you did, at some point. If some questions are verboten, and the answer is "how dare you ask that," don't expect your ideological opponents to ever change their minds.

03-08-2016 06:22 AM

Thanks given by:

Superkamiguru

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Messages In This Thread

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - Miller0700 - 03-07-2016, 12:22 PM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - DreamRebel - 03-07-2016, 12:46 PM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - James Comey - 03-07-2016, 01:14 PM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - Cianna200 - 03-07-2016, 01:24 PM

h, maybe - TheCancer - 03-07-2016, 02:08 PM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - no - 03-08-2016 06:22 AM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - SoulRiser - 03-08-2016, 05:39 AM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the w - TheCancer - 03-08-2016, 07:31 AM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - brainiac3397 - 03-08-2016, 10:02 AM

RE: “If a child can't leach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - TheCancer - 03-08-2016, 12:12 PM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - the Analogist - 03-20-2016, 07:25 AM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - James Comey - 03-08-2016, 04:48 PM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - SuperSquad - 03-09-2016, 03:40 AM

ch, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - TheCancer - 03-09-2016, 05:47 AM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - vonunov - 03-09-2016, 07:30 AM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - James Comey - 03-14-2016, 08:39 AM

RE: “If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - Cianna200 - 03-14-2016, 10:11 AM

RE: “If a child can't leach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - TheCancer - 03-20-2016, 08:00 AM

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” - James Comey - 03-20-2016, 09:20 AM

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