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Is School Broken? (Also...ANNOUNCEMENTS OF IMPORT)

2015-01-16 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: US politics & society) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, timely hook, civic or action cta

Hank argues that education should build a problem-solving toolkit, but American schools often train test-taking over real learning and give everyone the same toolkit, glutting the market; he then announces new Crash Course series and his interview with President Obama.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Twelve years of free education as a gift society gave; Hank complained about it anyway

  • ★★ Hank calls twelve years of free education a remarkable gift society gave him, though it did not stop him from complaining about it constantly. — 00:00:01 · education
  • ★ Hank teases that John paid for some of his education at a fancy boarding school, which turned out okay given the book he wrote because of it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:07 · Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:00:38 — What education is (a problem-solving toolkit); problem one: cramming facts for tests

  • ★★ Hank says the American education system has problems and he will discuss two interrelated ones. — 00:00:38 · education

  • ★★★ Hank defines education as building a toolkit to solve problems and applying it; it involves discrete facts but is much more than that. — 00:00:44 · education

    “it's building a toolkit with which to solve problems, and applying that toolkit in the solving of problems.”

  • ★★ Hank says we learn the alphabet not for its arbitrary order but to read and write, which solves the impermanence of spoken words. — 00:01:00 · education

  • ★★ Hank says everything taught in school should increase our collective problem-solving toolkit, as US history and long division do; an informed populace that agrees on basics solves problems. — 00:01:16 · education
  • ★★ Hank thinks a required high school gender studies course would solve a lot of problems. (hedged) — 00:01:32
  • ★★★ Hank's first problem: he remembers school as shoving facts into short-term memory for tests and forgetting them, which taught him only how to do well on tests. — 00:01:37 · education

00:01:50 — Problem two: identical toolkits create a glut; need for a diversity of toolkits

  • ★★★ Hank's second problem: our toolkit is what we use to solve problems professionally, a job, so if everyone gets the same toolkit there is a glut, as supply outstrips demand. — 00:01:51 · education
  • ★★ Hank says he worries there is not a broad enough diversity of toolkits. — 00:02:18

00:02:22 — Crash Course goes off the beaten path: Anatomy & Physiology and Astronomy with Phil Plait

  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course, the brothers' educational YouTube channel, is starting to cover topics more off the beaten path for that reason. — 00:02:22 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course Anatomy and Physiology started two weeks ago (early January 2015), with two episodes up, covering how the body works and what happens when it breaks. — 00:02:29 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course Astronomy launched yesterday, hosted by astronomer and science communicator Phil Plait, whom he can hardly believe he gets to work with. — 00:02:37 · Crash Course

00:02:48 — Obama's free community college plan; Hank's YouTube interview with the President; leave questions via #YouTubeAsksObama; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says President Obama just announced he will try to make two years of community college free for all students. — 00:02:48 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ Hank announces President Obama will have a conversation with him, hopefully about issues that matter to Americans, livestreamed on the White House's YouTube channel on January 22. (hedged) — 00:02:48 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ Hank approves of Obama's free community college plan as broadening the toolkit of Americans. — 00:02:55 · Barack Obama
  • ★★ Hank asks American viewers to leave topics, thoughts and questions for the interview in the comments or on social media with #YouTubeAsksObama. — 00:03:07
  • ★ Hank jokingly promises not to puke, says just talking about the interview freaks him out, and shows off a flag and red and blue clothes. (playful) — 00:03:26

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: education

Also: America's College Promise · Barack Obama · Crash Course · gender studies · Looking for Alaska (novel) · supply and demand · White House · YouTube Asks Obama

Only in the description or credits: Phil Plait

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