We all know confidently incorrect people. People displaying dunning-kruger. The majority of those people have low education and without someone giving them objectively true feedback on their opinions through their developmental years, they start to believe everything they think is true even without evidence.

Memorizing facts, dates, and formulas aren’t what necessarily makes someone intelligent. It’s the ability to second guess yourself and have an appropriate amount of confidence relative to your knowledge that is a sign of intelligence.

I could be wrong though.

  • remember FOIL?

    A lot of adults don’t, then proceed to argue about order of operations, having forgotten that Brackets have to be all expanded out before doing anything else at all.

    We don’t learn that math because it’s practical for adult life

    Yes we do. I use Maths every day, quite separate to the fact I teach it.

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      I mean Pythagoras is useful but what are you foiling?(garden fertilizer?) Or are you misconstruing “that math” for “all math”?

    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      19 hours ago

      We don’t learn that math because it [isn’t] practical for adult life

      I love this argument because it’s like a guy who catches and eats raw fish saying that we don’t need fire. Like, man, you’re not even trying to use it, though.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        I think you missed that the next portion of their statement was connected to the part you (inappropriately) added the missing word to.

        They’re saying, essentially, that it’s important to learn math just for a rounded education, even if it lacks application. They’re saying closer to “even if we’re eating sushi, we still need fire”.