What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?
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My grade school education intentionally missed out on any talk of the american civil war. I had a young black female social studies teacher, leading the class where we were scheduled to learn about that war. She clearly told us that you can't learn about the civil war without learning about slavery. So, I learned about the underground railroad, and other such things, but never heard the names of Lee or Grant.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 14:48 last edited by@Horace said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
never heard the names of Lee or Grant
You're not serious, are you?
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@Horace said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
never heard the names of Lee or Grant
You're not serious, are you?
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 14:53 last edited by@George-K said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
@Horace said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
never heard the names of Lee or Grant
You're not serious, are you?
I am serious.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 14:55 last edited by
The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
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The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 14:58 last edited by@Mik said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
The disconnect between life skills and all formal education topics, is an interesting one. What the actual fuck, formal education? But that said, I was taught about the miracle of compound interest early, in a home economics course, and it's a formal education lesson that imprinted on me.
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The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:05 last edited by@Mik said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
This 100%
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In my case, a strong understanding of statistics. It was never a required course, and beyond p-value, I have little understanding.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:10 last edited by@George-K said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
In my case, a strong understanding of statistics. It was never a required course, and beyond p-value, I have little understanding.
I agree.
I'm still not too good at it.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:10 last edited by
From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:15 last edited by
My math journey was strange. I flunked my first tries in college, not that the word "try" fits with what I actually did. But in my career, I became the go-to guy who knew all about calculations and numbers. Because I was naturally good at it, and because advanced math really never comes up, at least in my experience.
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From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:15 last edited by@Doctor-Phibes said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
Something Aqua talks about a lot, that I also feel is important, is a strong liberal arts education. I was subjected to literature, art appreciation, a wee bit of logic and some theology in college. And while I'm not nearly as deep as Jon or Horace, I can actually understand what they say, so the education helped. Sometimes.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:16 last edited by
How to survive a different political system that is not effectively some sort of free-market-ish capitalistic representative democracy.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
Something Aqua talks about a lot, that I also feel is important, is a strong liberal arts education. I was subjected to literature, art appreciation, a wee bit of logic and some theology in college. And while I'm not nearly as deep as Jon or Horace, I can actually understand what they say, so the education helped. Sometimes.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:22 last edited by Doctor Phibes 1 Dec 2025, 15:23@Jolly said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
@Doctor-Phibes said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
Something Aqua talks about a lot, that I also feel is important, is a strong liberal arts education. I was subjected to literature, art appreciation, a wee bit of logic and some theology in college. And while I'm not nearly as deep as Jon or Horace, I can actually understand what they say, so the education helped. Sometimes.
It's an interesting point to consider. The flip side of my education is that I learned quite a bit more science and math than most US undergraduates get. When people talk about 'calculus' or 'physics' here, it's typically not that complex. That being said, I've forgotten almost all of what I learned since I never use it, as trying to help my son during his first year of mechanical engineering quickly demonstrated.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:32 last edited by
I see Coursera offers a free course in statistics. I may look into it.
The guy that operated on my hand said that he's taking a calculus course, just for the fun of it (!).
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@Jolly said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
@Doctor-Phibes said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
From the age of 16 I was taught absolutely nothing about the arts or humanities. It was 100% math and science. It was a failing of the British education system that you had to specialize so soon. I don't know if it's still like that or not.
Something Aqua talks about a lot, that I also feel is important, is a strong liberal arts education. I was subjected to literature, art appreciation, a wee bit of logic and some theology in college. And while I'm not nearly as deep as Jon or Horace, I can actually understand what they say, so the education helped. Sometimes.
It's an interesting point to consider. The flip side of my education is that I learned quite a bit more science and math than most US undergraduates get. When people talk about 'calculus' or 'physics' here, it's typically not that complex. That being said, I've forgotten almost all of what I learned since I never use it, as trying to help my son during his first year of mechanical engineering quickly demonstrated.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:40 last edited by@Doctor-Phibes said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
That being said, I've forgotten almost all of what I learned since I never use it,
I'm hopeless. If I had taken P-Chem, I'd have a chemistry major. I can barely read the Periodic Chart nowadays...
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I see Coursera offers a free course in statistics. I may look into it.
The guy that operated on my hand said that he's taking a calculus course, just for the fun of it (!).
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:49 last edited by@George-K said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
I see Coursera offers a free course in statistics. I may look into it.
The guy that operated on my hand said that he's taking a calculus course, just for the fun of it (!).
Ten years ago, I got a Series 6, a 63 and a 65 ( I think..). I thought about getting a 7, but didn't , because I didn't need it (I didn't sell individual stocks or ETF's). My mind is not good enough for that today.
My hat is off to you. Passing a Stats course today would be like hitting a baseball over a 400 foot fence for me.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 15:54 last edited by Copper 1 Dec 2025, 15:55
We called it sadistics, but it wasn't that bad.
Somehow I managed to never take a Chemistry course, that might be fun. I could have used more music and golf education.
And our entire generation missed out on DEI.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 16:00 last edited by
Thinking about undergrad, besides the required math (Calculus), chemistry, biochemistry, organic, and various biology courses, I had.
Language - German.
Geography
Economics
Philosophy - lots of it.
Literature
Art History
Something Russian, but I can't remember - literature?And I was able to weasel my way into two quarters of Grad-level music history.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 16:15 last edited by jon-nyc 1 Dec 2025, 16:44
I think in general statistics and some basic financial knowledge are probably the biggest gaps in US public education relative to how useful both are just to be alive in the 21st century.
I never had stats that I can recall though I went through Advanced Placement BC Calculus in high school.
In college I took a highly mathematical probability class but that’s different.
About two years ago I completed the Coursera Biostatistics program done in conjunction with Johns Hopkins given I was getting involved in therapeutic development.
After that set of courses I knew more than the investigators but of course less than actual biostatisticians.
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wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 16:42 last edited by
I sort of love probabilities and statistics, and I wish I knew more about them. Hopefully someday. I have a vague memory from 25 years ago, where I worked out with pen and paper the probabilities of the birthday paradox. Because on some random night with my friends, we were talking about that. I showed the paper to the rest, and one of them predicted I'd be rich someday.
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My math journey was strange. I flunked my first tries in college, not that the word "try" fits with what I actually did. But in my career, I became the go-to guy who knew all about calculations and numbers. Because I was naturally good at it, and because advanced math really never comes up, at least in my experience.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 16:57 last edited by Mik 1 Dec 2025, 16:58@Horace said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
My math journey was strange. I flunked my first tries in college, not that the word "try" fits with what I actually did. But in my career, I became the go-to guy who knew all about calculations and numbers. Because I was naturally good at it, and because advanced math really never comes up, at least in my experience.
Same with me. Algebra is foul witchcraft, but geometry and pretty much all other non-scientific math is my huckleberry. In a 40 year tech career I never needed higher math. An understanding of user behavior, enterprise needs and processes, and communication skills served me much better.
I did take statistics in college but never had much use for it.
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The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
wrote on 12 Jan 2025, 17:36 last edited by@Mik said in What's the one thing you feel your education lacked?:
The financial life cycle for most people, and how to build wealth, a rudimentary understanding of one's legal rights and responsibilities. We send kids out into the world with no real clue how it works.
Yes I so agree. I’ll add on taxation. If I were an American, I’d also like to learn to navigate my life & health insurance.