Ask HN: Is learning your strengths more important than most of K12 education?

1 pointsposted 14 hours ago
by amichail

Item id: 41619144

4 Comments

WheelsAtLarge

14 hours ago

no, while I agree that a big chunk of K-12 education is useless. What you learn will help you understand how you fit in the world and what you need to function in society. Without it, there's no way you can find and understand how best to use your strengths.

PaulHoule

13 hours ago

And it does help people find their strengths. Few people are going to make a career in art or music but actually kids of average means but if you stand out in these subjects you can find opportunities like the band, for other people it might be science or sports or literature or languages. Nobody is going to benefit from all of it but many people benefit from some of it.

syndicatedjelly

11 hours ago

I'd also like to ask the question, more important to who?

To the economy? Yes, we all should endeavor to find that which will allow us to maximally contribute to our employers, and reduce participation in things we are not excellent at. But I would very much dread living in a world like that.

If the question is around what is important to ourselves, then I would argue that all of K-12 education is important. Every subject we are taught in school is vastly deep and interesting beyond what we can even imagine. Don't let a bad teacher scare you away from any subject, ever.

There are many things I am not particularly good at, which serve as great hobbies and outlets for myself. The reason I enjoy them so much is because they have no economic utility. Almost all of these subjects, I first encountered at a very young age, and almost certainly in a school setting.

The world is such an interesting place, I really hate seeing it reduced to the black-and-white of economic and employer utility.