Imperfect

personalized pedagogy

Inspired by Janet's The first game I learned to play and Motivation dies in the lag.

Children can afford passion over policing. Less coerced assembly lines, eventual rugpulls, and perfectionist fixations. More compelling mechanisms furthering the pursuit of individualized passions and creativity.

Less heads-down, hands-up, one-size-fits-all schoolwork. More novel approaches for how novel education and pedagogy are. Digital options include but aren't limited to games, sports, and even artificial intelligence. Physical options include but aren't limited to do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, science experiments, and dabbling in the fine arts. Our available options are practically infinite in number. Your child opting for some shouldn't have to force others' into the same.

Captivate students through responsive feedback loops shrinking "the gap between effort and clarity". Designate time and space for creativity that hours of homework after school neglects for mere knowledge acquisition. Construct exercises discouraging rote memorization for more organic, emergent network building. Make learning relevant and thus accessible to students as individuals with distinct wants, needs, and desires. Each is one of a kind; let's treat them as such instead of one and the same. How can we revolutionize education such that it taps into the self-interest that makes them (and hopefully others) feel good?

As I hint at in casuals versus speedrunners, the latter employ critical thinking, clever shortcuts, and perfect practice to meet the demands of an intrinsic competitive desire. How generally can these mechanisms be applied? Speaking of games and similar pastimes, can those provide the scaffolding needed for students to excel when solving problems in other novel domains?

Discovery doesn't have to be a distraction if you don't yet know what you want to do. The same applies to students, children, and beginners alike. Processes of elimination undergone early can save much time and resources in the long run. Tapping into many touchpoints can unlock the potential to synthesize an idiosyncratic path forward.

Educational experts get up in arms about rampant cheating via generative AI. Workarounds like submitting the prompt instead of the output as linked to in Jeppe's Show me the prompt instead. I wonder if a more fundamental approach of amplifying the meaningfulness of assignments for students would be even more feasible, whether assisted by AI or not. With students smart enough to skate as such, could teachers become smart enough to enrich students more as growing brains instead of numbers or letters? Instead of homework encouraging students to cheat to make way for fun, why not have kids collaborate on projects involving active interests?

Life is an unbounded, ever-growing set of grades including those which the state of education imposes upon you. Become embedded in many grades, not necessarily for the purpose of maximizing instant talent, but for resilience and maximizing your surface area of luck. Want options? Seed them as early as you can then nurture them for years and decades to come.

That said, imagine you on your deathbed. Many grades you stressed over in the past can make way for sentimental memories on your deathbed. Think of friends you made in this journey called life, formative experiences, or even the loved ones around you seeing that you lived your best life. Typically over-exaggerated milestones make way for human connection from this reverse perspective. How are you tending to the long game: the one you play yourself while you are here, but also the game others play with you even after you depart?

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