Learning economics

[Aqua Letifer]

Sam was a Taiwanese dude in my Wing Chun class in Oz. This guy was an absolute fucking monster. He worked as a nurse and trained. That was his life.

He helped teach in the gym. What struck me was how invested he was in getting you to learn a thing. He worked on the exact same shit with me for 45 minutes one day. (I couldn't do it quite frankly because Wing Chun realigns your spine after awhile, and if yours isn't, you simply can't do some of the things. I was getting there but my muscles were still fighting me.) When I started to finally get it, he was genuinely more happy for me than I was for myself.

Another guy in the class fancied himself as pretty awesome. He was far better than me and did have a ton of training, but couldn't hold a candle to Sam. Sam could tag his ass in chi sao every time.

If you think their attitude and their skill level weren't directly associated you're out of your mind.

[Horace]

I have no doubt that anecdote is valid. I have an anecdote. I worked with a developer who as a side gig taught programming at a community college. The guy had a massive ego about his expertise, which I attributed to the fact that he was considered an expert by his students. He could get very condescending as he discussed stuff with his colleagues in our workplace, sometimes making the point that his coworker was making the same mistake his students do. Meanwhile, his code was garbage and has proven over the years since he thankfully left to be the messiest and least maintainable part of the codebase.

[Copper]

I have an anecdote.

I worked as a flight instructor.

If you were still alive at the end of the flight you were a good teacher.

Extra credit if you can use the plane again.

[George K]

@copper

[Mik]

@horace said in Learning economics:

I have no doubt that anecdote is valid. I have an anecdote. I worked with a developer who as a side gig taught programming at a community college. The guy had a massive ego about his expertise, which I attributed to the fact that he was considered an expert by his students. He could get very condescending as he discussed stuff with his colleagues in our workplace, sometimes making the point that his coworker was making the same mistake his students do. Meanwhile, his code was garbage and has proven over the years since he thankfully left to be the messiest and least maintainable part of the codebase.

I knew him. Several of him. These were the people I did not want fired. I wanted them taken out back and shot so they wouldn’t go work elsewhere.

I hated people who created ‘clever’ code. They were normally those who wanted to use it as job security because no one else understood it.

[jon-nyc]

@mik said in Learning economics:

I hated people who created ‘clever’ code. They were normally those who wanted to use it as job security because no one else understood it.

Like Horace defining his own operators?

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said in Learning economics:

@mik said in Learning economics:

I hated people who created ‘clever’ code. They were normally those who wanted to use it as job security because no one else understood it.

Like Horace defining his own operators?

Nah, that’s already being maintained successfully by a different developer who didn’t even need to ask me how. That’s the masterful clarity with which it was implemented.

[LuFins Dad]

Can’t say anything about teaching in an academic setting, but I can tell you that I will always have a new salesperson in training until I retire.

Working with them on a daily basis keeps you honest. Showing them what they did right and what could be improved helps me improve. Knowing they are watching me with my clients keeps me on my toes.

[Jolly]

Ten years as an adjunct. First couple of semesters were hard. But after awhile, I caught the right rhythm, and I was almost mediocre.

It was a fun gig.

[George K]

@jolly said in Learning economics:

Ten years as an adjunct. First couple of semesters were hard. But after awhile, I caught the right rhythm, and I was almost mediocre.

It was a fun gig.

Nothing better than engaged and interested students.

Nothing more frustrating than IDGAF students.

[bachophile]

You are all philosophizing too much

It was a real funny response. Perfect Twitter entertainment.

[Catseye3]

@aqua-letifer said in Learning economics:

've found that one of the best ways to clarify and advance your understanding of a thing is to be tasked with teaching it to someone else. It works every single time, when both participants are actively engaged.

Einstein said, if you can't explain a thing to a six-year-old, that means you do not understand it yourself.

Or something like that.

[kluurs]

I taught basic statistics to undergrads. At the time, it helped me as much or more than them. I also learned a lot about people with phobic responses to math. They'd get so anxious they'd shut down their ability to learn. Some people needed a visual understanding of what was going on. Some liked a cookbook approach. Another if you said, it is "5:45 pm" or "quarter of six" - had no understanding that these were equivalent - and here they were a college undergrad!

[bachophile]

@kluurs actually it’s 17:45.

[Doctor Phibes]

A quarter of six is 1.5. It's a quarter to six.