Americans are under-educated

For sure. Most Americans don’t even know about front room make out sessions.

yes and no.

the education system sucks

but the over-educated and under-employed are getting to be a huge group in the US.

"over-educated and under-employed are getting to be a huge group"

Under-employment does not mean that someone is over-educated.

SJG

It does when college graduates and those with higher degrees or certificates are working in fields where they can't fully utilize their skills.

I find it EXTREMELY ironic that Americans are so undereducated in an information age, when almost any information is available at our fingertips. There are literally, FREE video recordings of lectures on physics, math, engineering, artificial intelligence, biology, medicine, etc. E-books on the most advanced topics are available through Amazon, or even for free with a library card! Anybody can get a Masters Degree level of education if they really wanted to, without buying a college degree. Would only cost a few hundred bucks for books.

Just watch Good Will Hunting.

"working in fields where they can't fully utilize their skills"

That may indicate a problem, but it still does not mean that they are not under-educated.

FTS, I agree that life long independent studies has to be part of the future. No way anyone can learn all they need in just a short span of years.

But to learn say, advanced Mathematics and Physics, it is more demanding than say something like computer programming. One really has to work through the books, on paper. While it is possible, most of the people who know such stuff well, they have sat in the class rooms, and taken the notes, and done the homework problems and taken the exams. Usually it is still only such formally educated people who can take the material and apply it in novel and unstructured situations. I don't think it always has to be this way, but most of the time it is.

But my statement was based more on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv5VMf-R…

To engage with such a discussion, one has to have a very good understanding of some extremely difficult writers, such as Martin Heidegger, Kant, and Lacan, just for starters. And then there are lots of other things which these writers are drawing from. One really has to devote a large portion of their life to mastering such subject matter. The discussion was being held with the outside scholars at UCLA. But the vast majority of the US population, even those who consider themselves educated, would be completely lost.

But if you don't understand such things well, you really are not current when it comes to discussing contemporary moral and ethical issues.

So I say that I am under educated, and that the vast majority of Americans are too. Other countries, not sure how they compare. For a lot of this stuff, Paris is an intellectual center. Here in the US, we don't have any one singular center like that. We have lots of extremely good schools, and UCLA is one of them. But as for our broader culture, we don't seem to have anything like Paris, at least not like how Paris comes across.

Never read such stuff before, but people say their are both strengths and weaknesses of autodidacticism.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-stren…


SJG

I only like this heavily track overlaid studio recording of this song, not any of the live versions. Cause of the singer's style. And I don't so much like the other guys who usually sings this either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anpjEN9K…

Suspicious Mind - Elvis Presley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBmAPYkP…

Glenn Campbell, experience really shows, in my opinion. They have a four string bass player, but notice the guy who solos on the six string bass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjzTNWWO…

Try a Little Tenderness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnPMoAb4…

Lauryn Hill - Killing Me Softly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KpeCk6N…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4USer34…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-RBJNqd…

I'd Rather Go Blind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZVQD9pi…

Does anyone have a link which talks about the strengths and weaknesses of autodidacts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidact…

The 1997 drama film Good Will Hunting follows the story of autodidact Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon. Hunting demonstrates his breadth and depth of knowledge throughout the film but especially to his therapist and in a heated discussion in a Harvard bar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_e…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_e…

SJG

Michelle Alexander on The New Jim Crow, at Union Theological Seminary ( she wrote a very important book )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T79I1PLT…

Paul Tillich Symposium: John Caputo Lecture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cog1v44W…

Strengths and weaknesses of an autodidact?

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-flaws…

SJG

Socrates Cafe
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039332…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates_C…

Not sure how well these groups have proliferated:
http://www.philosopher.org/Socrates_Cafe…

SJG

Tornado Damage in Missouri
http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstor…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatoni…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatoni…


SJG

https://www.hawtcelebs.com/wp-content/up…

from above ^^^^^^^

Neoplatonism was a major influence on Christian theology throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in the West. This was due to St. Augustine of Hippo, who was influenced by the early Neoplatonists Plotinus and Porphyry, as well as the works of the Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who was influenced by later Neoplatonists, such as Proclus and Damascius.


This is who they are counting as Neo-Platonists, assumed to be in chronological order. And I note that later Plato is different from early and mid Plato.




Plato Ammonius Saccas Plotinus (disciples) Origen Porphyry Iamblichus Julian the Apostate Sallustius Hypatia Plutarch of Athens Macrobius Augustine of Hippo Syrianus Proclus Pseudo-Dionysius Damascius Simplicius of Cilicia Boethius Maximus the Confessor Johannes Scotus Eriugena Al-Farabi Solomon ibn Gabirol Isaac the Blind Thierry of Chartres Gemistus Pletho Marsilio Ficino Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Giordano Bruno Cambridge Platonists


How about idea and word, "Theosophy"

They say that Theosophy started with Jakob Bohme. I had not know that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy_…

But also saying that the word started with Iamblichus ( AD 245 – c. 325)

Proclus Lycaeus ( 8 February 412 – 17 April 485 AD)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclus

So wanting to remedy my educational deficiency, where do I start reading?

How about this, 242 pages.
An introduction to ancient philosophy / A.H. Armstrong ( 1983)

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Anci…

Yes, looks outstanding, many editions, goes all the way back to the Pre-Socratics, and covers all that flowed out, including Neo-Platonism, and Augustinian Medieval.

SJG

The preachers getting rich from poor Americans
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-4767530…



SJG

Republican Anti-Abortion Crusade, a new Culture War for 2020 Election
https://www.tuscl.net/discussion.php?id=…

Why TUSCL?
https://www.tuscl.net/discussion.php?id=…

bang69
Decriminalizing prostitution
https://www.tuscl.net/discussion.php?id=…

ESS JAY GEE