This problem exists in schools as well: education is being increasingly restricted and tuned to focus on where the puck is, not where it will be, and increasing numbers of worthless metrics are demanded to ensure this is the case.
Not that this is a new problem (consider Dickens’ Hard Times) but I have been shocked how my 1970s/80s education (mostly broad, fun stuff with the only “skills” being mathematics and very concrete things like operating a car or camera or making a nutritious meal) contrasts with that offered to my kid or even worse to my gf’s kids in the Palo Alto schools.
This especially astonishes me as I consider one of the best things in the US is its non-specialized approach to undergraduate education.
Not that this is a new problem (consider Dickens’ Hard Times) but I have been shocked how my 1970s/80s education (mostly broad, fun stuff with the only “skills” being mathematics and very concrete things like operating a car or camera or making a nutritious meal) contrasts with that offered to my kid or even worse to my gf’s kids in the Palo Alto schools.
This especially astonishes me as I consider one of the best things in the US is its non-specialized approach to undergraduate education.