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What hill will you die on? (lazysoci.al)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Fancy cupcakes are 70% icing, really not that nice and a waste of money

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think I can put into words how much worse my life would be if we followed your second suggestion. There are a great many things I never really wanted to learn about, but I'm incredibly glad I was still taught them - starting from basic stuff (like maths etc) over arts (especially poetry and literary analysis) to sciences (especially physics and chemistry).

I would understand far less about the world, I could never engage as deeply with media as I love to, and I couldn't have built so many things that require holistic insight into our world.

I'd be a far less developed version of myself, because I wouldn't be able to follow my interests the same way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I must wonder why not. Like, clearly those things are enriching to you, aren't they? Why wouldn't you have learned them on your own terms? Assuming nothing was stopping you? You seem not to be an incurious person? Again, information has never been cheaper, you just have to look for it.

Like I'm not trying to make fun of your explanation or even say you're wrong. Just... Genuinely wondering how come

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I wouldn't have known how much I enjoy some of those things. Let's stick with literary analysis - I hated doing that in school, really hated it. It was a slog to get through. Until I one day read something I enjoy, and started feeling the things I learned to analyze. Suddenly the text wasn't just a text, it was a conversation with the author. It made me engage with reading on a different level, and also taught me to utilize the same techniques in my own writing.

But I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't have been able to force myself to learn that stuff on my own. Writing literary analyses and having them read, critiqued and graded by my teachers was essential to learning it. Yet I would have gone on thinking that it's a waste of my time, had I not been forced to learn it.