Just Tell Them the Tool

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.

I don’t need a seventh grader to rediscover the distributive property from scratch. It’s just, it’s not a good use of time.

You know, just give them the idea. Show them why it works, have them use it, practice it until it’s reliable.

I mean, the whole point of instruction, the whole reason why teaching exists, is because humans have already figured out a lot of knowledge, right?

We already know a lot of math from centuries of geniuses grinding away at it.

So the whole point is kind of like, hey, let me show you how this works so you don’t have to waste a whole bunch of time rediscovering it.

So you don’t have to make every mistake, go down every dead-end road just to finally get to the techniques that actually work.

There’s a lot of knowledge to learn, and the edge of the field, in any field really, is a lot further than it used to be.

So if you wanna get there and push it further, you’re gonna have to get there faster than your predecessors did so that you actually have enough time to push the edge over the course of your career.

Further reading: Why I’m So Against Discovery Learning .

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.