Mason  🏃‍♂️ ✂️

What percentage of the exams you passed in high school do you believe you could pass now? (Some work has been done on retention of high school material: the results are very, very disappointing.)

Your doctor probably can't remember all the bones in the human body but I'd guess you both like that they once did.

Why? I mean it. You're implying something about learned models without being explicit.

In this case I mean that 1. Even if 90% plus of the final value we place in learning is signalling -- am I using that term correctly? -- I'd rather the remainder be useful. 2. Having once conquered a subject is a powerful crutch to conquer it again if need be.

But to go back to the original quote, you *seriously* dispute it?

Absolutely. I'm as shocked as you are that anyone *doesn't* dispute it. I'm further shocked by the doubling down — you don't need to retain much? Really? If retention isn't the goal of learning, what is? What would a failed learning program look like, if not low retention?

I was referring to the comment about phones, but anyway... failure would correspond to an inability to relearn or learn anew something related. Maybe concepts can be transferred or maybe only confidence, but probably a bit of both.

When my eldest daughter starting doing column subtraction at school I swear to God I had forgotten how.