B2D shows clear superiority of 1-1 over 1-many but I think it neglects something even better: 1 to self. IMO, issues with 1 to many teaching result from high semantic distance: teacher is either too far ahead of student or are teaching things the student already knows. Thus, they're always stuck either frustrated or bored. 1-1 teaching eliminates that because a tutor knows what the student does or not know; they can teach with continuous low semantic distance that isn't frustrating.
I think 1-self teaching goes beyond tutoring because:
1. you know what you don't know so if you need some preceding information you can find that for yourself (in large part thanks to the internet)
2. teaching is centered around the idea that a teacher knows what you should know better than you do. In many cases, I don't think this makes much sense. If I want to learn how to make x thing, getting a general education on the field x falls into (field y) doesn't make sense. Learning a bunch of useless things in field y is a waste of my time. If I'm deciding what to learn by myself, I can make sure that I'm not only learning things efficiently but that I'm choosing what to learn effectively.
As a result, I think prioritizing large behavioral spaces where your daughter can make mistakes and figure things out by herself is better than any rigid system forcing her to learn things she doesn't want to. (Note: you might think that having her educated in depth on some topic and having lots of knowledge is useful. Free learning leads to higher coherence which in turn makes knowledge more applicable and better retained. No matter how well your daughter is taught trigonometry, if she learns it independent of her own desires the ability will likely stick to being useful only for useless math problems.)
I highly recommend reading any of the articles in I would never send my kids to school; particularly the ones you find yourself disagreeing with the most.
I would also check out Sudbury or democratic schools, which are schools with high behavioral space and very low in coercion.
The people at the bottom here mentioned in further reading could also be helpful.
I'm vaguely trying to work on looking at 1-self learning as a means for solving B2D (thanks for the acronym by the way) better than 1-1 learning. I have no formal science background but I've started talking with a professor who found it very interesting. Hopefully we can find something concrete though I have no idea how we'd test it right now.
Unfortunately, I'm too confident in my own views and there are a lot of priors I'm guessing we don't share that might make some of this not make sense. Please bring them up and I will try to answer them though most answers could probably be found in some way on supermemo.guru.
1. you know what you don't know so if you need some preceding information you can find that for yourself (in large part thanks to the internet)
2. teaching is centered around the idea that a teacher knows what you should know better than you do. In many cases, I don't think this makes much sense. If I want to learn how to make x thing, getting a general education on the field x falls into (field y) doesn't make sense. Learning a bunch of useless things in field y is a waste of my time. If I'm deciding what to learn by myself, I can make...
Just a note that 1-self only works for people with:
An umbrella term for this style of learning (and systems that support it) is "self-directed education". You can find places that practice this low-coercion and self-directed style here. There are a small handful of places in Central Europe that might fit the bill.
These places often serve as a refuge for kids that don't fit in the conventional school model, so you often encounter a high rate of neuro-atypicality. There are lots of kids that might have earned themselves a diagnosis in a school setting who are thriving in an environment that can bend to their
Hey Raj. Thanks a lot for an insightful post, it's definitely that sort of things I was looking after, regardless if I immediately agree with them or not.
1-self learning: How I read it so far is that instead of selecting "the way" first and optimizing it later, instead it might be a good idea to focus on learning how to learn by yourself first, recognizing what's the most effective in any given case, be it via internet or an actual human resource such as a tutor.
By the way, my solely main motivation for her to know English was the access to much better mat
When our firstborn was in kindergarten and had trouble with his peers, I was very worried about how he would fare in school. I was considering setting up a homeschooling school. Not real homeschooling because Germany has mandatory schooling but using a legal construct that uses a private school as 'adapter' between multiple co-home-schooling parents. I had already researched the requirements and written (parts of) the application. But it turned out that our son had no problems in school—quite the opposite. Part of the reason probably was that he had an extremely experienced and caring teacher who also allowed me to offer some activities in the class (I was the "fried of numbers" in the class).
Anyway, your idea of a teaching community sounds quite like what I had in mind with my homeschooling school (though regulations would have set significant parts of the curriculum). I understand that you want to teach the 'valuable' parts of the curriculum like active reading and writing skills, math, and the scientific method plus some more useful stuff that is left unspecified.
Over time, I have discussed multiple times how education can be improved. We have taught our kids many things that are not part of the school curriculum, and I have made clear which aspects I judge to provide little long term value. Talking about the process with my kids (my oldest is now in 10th grade) has also informed my views. He has his own opinions on it. Now, with COVID19, he had the opportunity to study more self-directed and enjoyed it (and invested much more effort in some school projects than before).
My conclusion is that there is no simple answer. Do we understand why school is the way it is? Is it some Chesterton's Fence? I think so. Especially after a lengthy discussion, I have concluded that school reproduces more than knowledge. It reproduces culture. It does so partly by creating a shared experience, a shared vocabulary, and shared methods of working together. And shared social networks. Sure, a big part is signaling. But the structure that the signaling supports - fitness for work in the corporate world - is highly interconnected with everything else. Can we get rid of it without breaking a lot of things? Maybe. It is worth a try for sure. Let's experiment and learn.
The other aspect is that you and I might have good ideas about which curriculum would be best. But that is informed by our predisposition - which our kids may or may not share. The world is evolving fast. We may be well-adapted to the current state (hopefully, after not too painful learning experience). But that doesn't mean that passing our tools on to our kids makes them well-equipped for the future also. The jobs we have now didn't exist when we were kids (at least mine didn't). Many of today's well-paying professions didn't exist before the age of the internet. At least not in the form we see them now. As usual, the future arrives with leaving things superficially unchanged - but things did change. And they will do so in the future too. Maybe even faster.
I talk a lot with my older son about how I do not know which future job will be best for him. I can only provide ideas and support, and he has to figure out most of it. I'm not worried. He is so rational and seems to take up many of my suggestions quickly. I am more concerned about his younger brother, who watches YouTube videos without end. But who am I to judge? When I was his age, I was reading copious amounts of science fiction. Many would have judged this a waste of time. And I played around with these computer things (that was in the 80s). Who knows? Maybe his fluency in these memes and the English he is picking up from it will be useful for him. I think his older brother will benefit from the rationality skills too. But I can't force the tools. I will keep talking with them. Talking helps.
Hi. Thanks a lot for a really nice write-up.
It seems that the regulations in the Czech Republic are actually legally "workable", i.e. it's possible to teach kids close to self-directed without having to do a lot of "compulsory curriculum" (i.e. my estimate is <5%). It also seems there is a "subculture" of families doing this and I managed to get to some people who know how to deal with this.
My conclusion is that there is no simple answer.
I don't aim for a simple answer and I do not expect there is some. But as I said, the current system seems so b
How neurotypical is your child? Do you have someone who can spend 10-40 hours a week educating them (depending on the first answer), or the cash to hire someone for that amount of time?
1-on-1 instruction for the (child-dependent) sufficient amount of time each week can be applied by anyone with 1SD above average intelligence and a little bit of "how to teach" education. This is the simplest way to ensure someone learns all the key skills (Arithmatic, Algebra, Reading to learn, Writing to communicate, basic facts about history & science)
Once they are old enough to attend High School classes, if you have access to a large (400+ per grade level) school they can get some good specialized classes that would be harder to do with general tutors. Junior college classes are also an option, depending on maturity level.
Did you read about B2D linked by OP? This is what Bloom found (from wikipedia):
the average tutored student was above 98% of the students in the control class".[1]:4 Additionally, the variation of the students' achievement changed: "about 90% of the tutored students ... attained the level of summative achievement reached by only the highest 20%" of the control class.
I don't think high school can hold a candle to that. All the content in any specialized class can be found online and learned at the leisure of the child rather than pra...
Thanks @ericf!
How neurotypical is your child?
She's regular kid, so neurotypical. Goes to an English speaking kindergarten (so she speaks fluently two languages + we are starting with Spanish) where she does above average according to the teachers with behavior and socializing, although she prefer playing with teachers and older kids. Thanks to the fact that one of us didn't have to work, we could spend a lot of time with her in the first 3 years and now she can read simple words and sentences (in English - how I hate its irregularities damn!) and do simple
I am very interested in this topic and I admire you all taking the time to share your detailed thoughts.
I think there is a massive opportunity in creating a k-12 home schooling version of Lambda School but targeted at general knowledge. Why not start by work together on it?
Let me know if you'd be interested and I would love to collaborate!
It's great to see some support like this. Not just to help with motivation but also to see what the interest is.
I think there is a massive opportunity in creating a k-12 home schooling version of Lambda School but targeted at general knowledge. Why not start by work together on it?
I am interested as it's probably clear from my question, but I don't think I would be a good fit to actually put it together (or that it would be cost-effective). I would be happy to put and run some structure which could do this. I should emphasize though that I am not try
Hi @kotrfa, thank you for your amazing post!
The topic of learning and schooling has become really dear to me, and I am in the process of digging into the existing knowledge to better understand the present issues, along with possible solutions.
I was curious to know about the solution you decided for your child, as far as I can read online private schooling seems the best option so far to provide a good knowledge to children.
Thank you in advance! :)
Hey. I decided on a private school with more of a "democratic approach". I unfortunately wasn't able to find suitable tutors etc.
I am also trying to process what ChatGPT-like platforms will do with the landscape. E.g. my partner is using coding almost exclusively with ChatGPT and it's outstanding. Kids gonna follow IMHO.
I am a mom of three children aged 10, 8 and 3. We are homeschooling now, after previous attempts of schooling through both public school and private school, trying out different pedagogical approaches (Montessori, Reggio Emilia, democratic school, Waldorf). None of them worked for us, so we finally registered the kids with a Romanian organization that is in the process of being authorized as an EOTAS (Education Other Than At School) institution by the UK Government. It is an interesting project that blends a wide array of approaches, ranging from schooling in small groups of children with daily frequency to unschooling. We have two evaluations per year with a team from UK (Penta International). I will provide more info if you think this might be a good fit for you, and maybe you can start your own organization in the Czech Rep.
I think of education in three main ways:
I believe your questions relate to all three ways to different extents (although the title of the post leans towards the HOW types of questions), but I found it useful to differentiate between these issues in order to make sure my time, money and efforts are well spent.
For me, the questions came in waves, I did not start pondering on them all at once. At the beginning of the process, I was mainly concerned with the HOW part, assuming that I was going to go by the the curricula (Romanian and UK). I bought the manuals and I started to work with the kids, but I soon realized that this was not a good approach. To my surprise, they already knew almost all the information they needed to know at their age, without being formally trained to do so, or with very little training. I have since then decided to focus on two main abilities: thinking critically and learning how to learn. Other than that, I have them explore each year learning new skills such as playing an instrument, learning a new sport and learning a foreign language (they get to choose what they want).
The HOW dealt with issues such as self-directed learning vs tutoring (we tried both), having a daily schedule or not, project-based learning, blended learning, and the list could go on. My kids are extremely different in terms of abilities, interests and preferred style of learning, so we had to adapt to each of their individualities. It is hard work, but I believe it is worth it, it is enriching to all of us.
The WHY questions came last, and I still don't have answers to them. I want to provide my children with a proper education (meaning they will be able to pass some form of internationally recognized exams in order to go to college, should they decide to), but the reason I want this is more about me than about them. I feel the responsibility of their future on my shoulders, so I struggle with letting them be in control of their education, holding on to my hope that their abilities and their interests will meet the demand of the workforce market when they reach graduation age.
For me, it all comes down to the concept of backward design - identifying the goals first, and then deciding on the acceptable levels of evidence that those goals are achieved, and only lastly planning the learning experience and instruction approach. It is an ongoing process, a combination of finite and infinite games.
I would like to close my comment by emphasizing that children are born rational beings, but they just start taking over from their parents when they provide them with irrational explanations for things that happen or might happen to them (one of my favorites, here in Romania, is that "If you don't stop crying, a big bad wolf will come and get you"), or they build defenses of their own that are irrational, to protect themselves from being hurt. I believe that our job as parents is, therefore, to be rational and predictive in relation to them, as well as gently making them aware of the instances when they use irrationality to run away from their feelings.
Hi! This is an excellent answer, thanks.
[...] I believe your questions relate to all three ways to different extents (although the title of the post leans towards the HOW types of questions), but I found it useful to differentiate between these issues in order to make sure my time, money and efforts are well spent.
Needless to say that I updated significantly in the past month since I posted this question and the "Why" and "What" has definitely enlarged. I agree with you that it's a useful framework to have. I am also thankful for the practical bits.
I would like to close my comment by emphasizing that children are born rational beings, but they just start taking over from their parents when they provide them with irrational explanations for things that happen or might happen to them (one of my favorites, here in Romania, is that "If you don't stop crying, a big bad wolf will come and get you"), or they build defenses of their own that are irrational, to protect themselves from being hurt. I believe that our job as parents is, therefore, to be rational and predictive in relation to them, as well as gently making them aware of the instances when they use irrationality to run away from their feelings.
I probably understand what you mean here and agree at least with my steelman version of your argument. But I would also like to emphasize that I want the "other" people which are important for me to understand "rationality" that I can't imagine how one could "born" with. Examples are all the great knowledge of giants on which shoulders we stand on (like, say, probability), "simply" results of scientific progress (like how minds work, or some biases...), or practical guide of "you are a human, try to work with that fact in the best way you can". At least I and virtually everyone I met didn't born with these, nor they figure all that out by themselves.
Seems to me that finding optimal education could be divided into three subproblems:
Most of my ideas are about the first subproblem, because I see so many low-hanging fruit in the current system, even without attempting any radical change.
For example, a sane country would have all school knowledge (at least at elementary and middle school level) available as free videos, free e-books, and free automated exams. I mean, if the official goal of "general education" is to force the knowledge down everyone's throat, why wouldn't you make it as accessible as possible?
Costs? Peanuts, compared to the costs of education as it is now. But think how convenient it would be e.g. for kids who missed the lesson because they were sick. For homeschoolers who can't find a better alternative for a specific subject. For kids who didn't understand the lesson at school, and want to try again. For adults who want to refresh their memory of the subject. How simple it would be to add another subject. How less stressful it could be if kids could practice their exams at home, with no penalty for failing.
Speaking about small groups with tutors, I have heard from homeschooling parents that it takes about 1 hour to teach at home what they teach at school in 1 day. At school a lot of time is wasted on discipline, waiting while your classmate is examined, etc. Also, the school is "45 minutes of something, a short break, 45 minutes of something completely unrelated, and again, and again, returning to the original topic 2 days later", which seems far from optimal.
From this perspective, tutoring in smaller groups would not necessarily need to quadruple the workforce, if the tutor could teach the same amount of knowledge 4× faster, which seems achievable, at least for some type of student. The tutor's efficiency could be further increased by using video lessons, something like "kids watch 30 minutes of video, spend 30 minutes debating with each other, then 1 hour with the tutor". With automated exams.
The question of "how to best educate this one specific person" (the OP Q) is very, very different than the question of "how to educate the 67% of the population within one SD of average*" (and also different from the question of "how to educate over 90% of the population").
*different challenges exist when considering general intelligence, self-motivation/executive function, and family resources as the metric of interest. Many, "how to fix education" plans seem to assume that all kids are "close enough to how I was (or my kid is)"
Thanks Vil. I agree with Ericf comment that you seem to try to take it more generically than I intended (i.e. I realize that I have resources 99% of the local population doesn't). That said, I fully agree with you on these points.
it takes about 1 hour to teach at home what they teach at school in 1 day
These are good datapoints, thanks.
And yeah, I would hope that with internet and some good courses which would give the kids some "library" of what I could learn + mixed with the self-driven learning wouldn't need a full attention of a tutor.
By the way, Khan Academy is already localized to Czech language (including dubbed explanatory videos). Recommended. Also, most of the Il était une fois… series were dubbed.
I believe there are already many great resources out there. What needs to be done is to properly review them, and catalogue the good ones. Just knowing that a needle exists somewhere is the haystack is not useful enough. From my perspective, filtering and cataloguing is the most meaningful thing the school can do. (It could also be done by a group of volunteers with a web page, of course.) Whatever reservations I have about the school system, I still trust the school textbooks on physics more than I trust random internet videos on quantum physics. (Of course, you can buy the textbooks without attending the school.)
I am trying to find out what are the most cost-effective ways of (early) education. I have a 4-year-old daughter and that gives me about ~2 more years to figure this out and I am trying to put together as much material as I can. Given the age of my daughter, I’d like to “solve” something like K-12 for now, but I guess some things may be applicable at any age.
I am familiar with Bryan Caplan's main theses formulated in the Case Against Education or Robin Hanson's Elephant in the Brain arguing that education is mostly about signalling and stuff. I therefore partly understand what's wrong and I am now trying to make my findings actionable and unsurprisingly, it seems pretty hard. I also do realize that there is very little research indicating that specific parental choices have much long term impact.
The important attributes of the ideal solution:
I do realize it’s a lot to ask, but I don't aim for perfection. I believe the current system is so badly broken and inadequate (seems that almost everyone agrees on this fact) that even with a little effort invested we can get better outcomes after a few months of preparation.
For example, one of the solutions could be starting a small home-schooling group with good tutors (Blooms 2SD problem hints towards this direction). I know it sounds ambitious to find someone satisfactory given the requirements but I believe I am in a good position in finding people who are half-way through and with some training, we would get there. I realize that K12 is not only about education but also about things like finding a peer group, which could be supplied via other channels (like afternoon activities) or switching into a regular school for some time. All these options are on the table, the goal is to find the most cost-effective solution. (An interesting discussion from a public-spending perspective on slatestarcodex)
The questions I have: