• lugal@sopuli.xyz
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    3 months ago

    The original idea behind school isn’t to educate the masses. Why would a factory worker need to know calculus and Shakespeare? He needs to read the clock and timetables, be on time, wake up in the morning early enough to be punctual, …

    Likewise higher education isn’t about the thinks you learn. It is about learning methods to learn. If you can learn the nitrogen cycle, you can learn our scrum statuses. If you can hand in your homework in time, you can keep our deadlines.

    This isn’t to say the system is good, but it helps to understand it when you want to criticize it.

    • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      But learning to critically question statements and judging them yourself (which requires some knowledge, for example you can’t question anti-vaxxers when you don’t know anything about how vaccines work) instead of simply believing them is extremely important in a democracy.

      • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        Judging sources for the information requires way less knowledge. To continue your analogy, for most people it’s obvious to take your medical advice from your family doctor instead of that crazy aunt in Facebook

        • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          While you’d generally believe that to be true it can be hard for people with no knowledge who aren’t the brightest to see through statements like “doctors just are part of the wealthy smart people society who aim to keep us down”.

          Never underestimate human stupidity.

        • Uvine_Umbra@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 months ago

          Dont you think that answer is far to clear cut? How about if it’s abstatement heard from a supposed friend’s doctor and you dont want to get a hold of your family doctor for as inane of a question as it is?

    • Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Cant you find out the answer for these questions with a series of short tests?

      I once applied for a job at IBM and instead of an initial interview they sent me a series of interactive tests to check my skills. I ended up moving to another country and didn’t follow through, but still liked this approach.

      Also in the EU I can see lots of job listings are using now a system where you either have a certain type of education/degree or a certain previous experience to be eligible to apply.

      Still you need to have knowledge of the specific field, but technically if you started at the bottom with an entry level low skill job you can get higher with experience alone and without a university degree.

      • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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        3 months ago

        Can they? Yes. Absolutely. 100%.

        A local factory likes people with college degrees, any degree, no matter what college or course, but also offer tests twice a year in large groups for exactly the reason that plenty y of people are qualified, and can do everything they need, but never went to college.

        Will they? Probably not unless it’s a niche employer. Why bother going through the extra effort when you can just say “degrees only” and turn your nose up at anyone without one?