Problem of schooling: My qualifications
This text is incomplete. It is being worked on incrementally. Please come back in a few days, or see other texts at SuperMemo Guru
This text is part of: "I would never send my kids to school" by Piotr Wozniak (2017)
My whole life seems to have converged on the thesis included in this book: schools do a lot of harm to our love of learning. This is why I believe you should consider my words carefully.
My knowledge
Here are my qualifications:
- My work, research, and expertise are all about how the brain works. In particular, I am involved in memory, learning, creativity and the highly underappreciated impact of sleep and the circadian cycle on productivity (incl. performance in learning and in problem solving)
- 18 years of experience with incremental reading, which provides a unique perspective on the emergence of knowledge, knowledge coherence, impact of coherence on memory stability and many other aspects of free learning (see: jigsaw puzzle metaphor)
- 26 years of learning in public institutions! I have suffered through 4 years of daycare, 8 long years of primary school, 4 years of high school, and 2 x 5 years at two different colleges (molecular biology and computer science)
- 26 years of real/efficient free learning after schools! I have enjoyed 26 years (and counting) of learning since my last day at school. For learning to bring true fruits and be fun, it needs to meet the following criteria: (1) self-directed, (2) self-paced, (3) self-timed, and (4) based on memory science (see: incremental learning). I have practiced free learning all my life
- I was a top student. I was also a bottom student. I was top and bottom at all levels of learning: primary, secondary and university! Yes. That makes for six unusual combinations that give me a unique insight into schooling: from the very top and from the very bottom. I was a glorified apple polisher, and I was a bottom scum feeder too.
- I was propelled forward by the school system. I was also pushed backwards. I was a knowledge olympiad gold medalist. I was also a wanna-be terrorist, and a criminal. From an ordinary hooligan to a committed missionary of knowledge
- I was a tutor with excellent outcomes, and some mistakes
- I attended hundreds of classes and lectures, slept through many of those, and I gave a dozen lectures myself too
- I had teachers of all sorts: awful teachers, abusive teachers, dumb teacher, wonderful teachers, friendly teachers, influential teachers, inspiring teachers, and many other teaching species
- I was a compliant student at times, but I was also a rebel, most of the time. I would often fight for individual student rights
- I was a bully, and I was bullied too
- I was fascinated with knowledge (mostly when self-learning), and also bored to death with my only escape: not paying attention
- All my own personal stories in the texts are backed up by an extensive system of notes I have been taking since the age of 12
Last but not least, my method of fast learning, SuperMemo, re-christened as "spaced repetition", is now gaining widespread acceptance in the global self-learning community. This might be the #1 reason why you bothered to read this text. Today, SuperMemo is powered by the concept of "incremental learning" that goes well beyond "spaced repetition". If you consider self-directed learning or homeschooling, I hope you also read about: incremental reading.
My ignorance
I also sport some areas of serious ignorance. Those can introduce a heavy bias. Please take those into account while reading:
- I have always loved learning. When there was no love, I just did not learn. I have never hated learning, or school. I have never hated a teacher. My "hate" was limited to selected classes such as pointless PE, or my pet dislike: Polish literature
- I have never been employed by a school. I have never been the ruler of a noisy class. My lectures with selective and positive audiences do not come close to emulating that pain
- I have never gone to a private school
- My learning has not been complemented by taking private lessons
- Most of my personal experience is limited to Poland
- My formal education ended in 1990
- I have never been abused (although there was a close call)
- I have no knowledge of illegal drugs. They arrived en masse in Poland only after my years at school
- My school life has never been derailed by problems with a romantic relationship
- My love of learning has never been damaged at home. There was no rod waiting for me for a bad school report
- I do not think I have been damaged by the system as much as I claim children would on average. I credit that to my rebellious nature, disobedience, and freedom at home
My love of SuperMemo and self-learning also introduces a serious bias. SuperMemo is my hammer. I cannot help but see nails all over the place! Today, anti-school sentiment is my hammer. Each stone I turn, I see harm inflicted by schooling.
This text is incomplete. It is being worked on incrementally. Please come back in a few days, or see other texts at SuperMemo Guru