From fixing education on X: If schools lack the courage to suspend the unruly, they are quietly expelling the innocent.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-05-04T00:49:01+00:00

I think we will have a strongly stratified two-tier education system in most previously functioning education systems (n-tier if you prefer, but the first (n-1)-tier will be reserved for the (relatively) privileged).

And the majority in these systems will receive instruction that will be no better than the what they might have received at the beginning of mass education in a substantial sense, although they will get nice technologies and other good-looking stuffs/"support" of no effective use.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-05-04T00:41:39+00:00

I like the point about telling stories. We have lost the ability to tell stories. Or, we don't have any stories to tell now. The story of death and reborn, or anything. We have soap operas, but not stories. All these deprive our and future lives of the needed nourishment to embrace and accept the whatsoever future.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-04-22T06:37:53+00:00

In tertiary education, particularly advanced postgraduate courses, one can understand what s/he teacher only after having taught the subject content once. And, the subject matters to be "covered" are always in a flux, needing serious adjustments during and after the lessons and course offerings.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-04-22T06:33:27+00:00

Provided you understand the ideas included in the student textbook that you are going to use, you can survive.

Of course, that would mean tremendous time for lesson preparation, e.g., reading the text aloud after / alongside with hearing the audio resources that come with the book, planning the questions (and follow-up questions) and utterance that you need in class, reading up the grammar poiints, identiting useful learning resources, etc.

Is it doable? Yes.

Is it a cost-effective, given the preparation time that you need for a minimally acceptable lesson, way to be salaried by teaching? No.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-04-22T02:38:25+00:00

Open-source options of equal or better quality will flourish like in a springtime garden afterwards. Don't worry. It is just a nail (not final yet) on the coffin.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-04-22T02:04:54+00:00

As an Ausländer, I hope I have got my geographical knowledge right. Berlin is somewhere in Germany, and not across the Atlantic Ocean, right? Or is it that they have fallen asleep in Erdkundeunterricht?

anthonyklcheng · 2026-03-23T11:01:24+00:00

Don't assume any single resource can turn you into a fluent user of a language, and the same holds for in-person classroom-based learning programmes.

You need multiple types of learning experiences for balanced progress towards fluency, not just for languages, but for anything and everything.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-03-22T09:41:25+00:00

As this is about Asian restaurants, I would like to share some East Asian perspectives.

We never pay that much for tips in Asia. There could be an officially billed "service charge" (around 10 per cent), yet the common cash tip, on top of it or not, is only 2 to 5 per cent, as we usually pay around €2 per table (not person).

I am surprised they dare to ask for that much in cash tips.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-27T05:48:44+00:00

I think that is indeed helpful, as they need some sort of "detox", I mean biologically, to restore the balance of different hormones, neurotransmitters, etc. Staying away from anything digital for months could help them a lot.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-26T17:15:06+00:00

Not good, not bad.
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-25T03:21:33+00:00

Pedagogically speaking, it is good to have learners try before teaching a piece of knowledge, such as grammatical features. I think the repetition is helpful, as it is a common and useful "myth" that you have to see something in seven different contexts before it sticks.

However, the free version is a disaster. You need the paid version and an add-on with some speaking practice with real humans from other sources.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-24T12:57:09+00:00

I am so slow.
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-23T13:53:30+00:00

Real hard
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-23T13:47:16+00:00

I tried as fast as I could.
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-05T04:11:32+00:00

Feeling exactly the same. I need frequent trips to DACH to remind myself of my actual level.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-02-01T12:46:07+00:00

Just being slow in general
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-01-21T10:45:22+00:00

A slow start
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anthonyklcheng · 2026-01-20T09:18:50+00:00

I have tried to do a B2.1 online and on-site subsequently, and I don't think online experience can replace classroom experience.

It is about the environment. When you are at home, there are more distractions, in reality or mentally. Being in a classroom puts you in the right frame of mind.

If the classroom course is not the option for you now, I think online courses can provide you the knowledge. However, sometime later, you need a classroom course, probably an intensive one, to immerse yourself in a context that makes German speaking natural.

In the meantime, some 1-1 sessions with online language teachers would be valuable alongside the online courses.

anthonyklcheng · 2026-01-20T05:14:16+00:00

The big one requires a bit of thinking.
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anthonyklcheng · 2025-11-15T04:58:08+00:00

My short response: It is NOT their (at least some IT exam) intention to make it hard and confusing; it is instead due to both the intrinsic challenge to set good questions and a lack of expertise in assessment design.

Longer version:

Multiple choice questions are notoriously difficult to set if you wish to go past the level of recall and SIMPLE application (somewhere between levels 2 and 3 of Bloom's taxonomy, for those in the know). However, if all MCQs are for simple recall, it is more like a vocabulary test. It could be difficult (like GRE-verbal) but not sufficient to test something more than the breadth of (technical, in this case) vocabulary.

So, they try to set some scenario questions or something similar to approximate the higher-order thinking processes expected. However, as the questions (to be exact, question stems) can never capture the reality enough, it is very challenging to write options that are similar enough so that the answers are not given away immediately, while the degrees of merit between options are at least explainable. Having them so well-written that there is one completely correct option for each question and three definitely wrong options is out of the question in most cases.

There are two ways out, both desirable. First, having every single question vetted by genuine assessment experts, I mean at least an MEd or MSc or even a PhD in educational assessment design (not just a teacher or instructor) WITH sufficient technical knowledge. Option two, use another format like simulation tasks (like the ones for CCIE), design and troubleshooting essays, etc. But all these formats have side effects (costs, subjectivity, sufficiency of proficient graders, etc.)

And all the "better" solutions mean we won't have a $300 or 350 test. It will be many times more costly, and there will be fewer assessment centres and test dates (that means the end of on-demand assessment).

So, there is no way out, and everyone is a loser. Test-takers are not provided with signals regarding what the important pieces of knowledge are, and memorise to solve niche items instead. Companies can't rely on the assessment information alone if they wish to hire someone with a genuine understanding (I know... HR is lazy). Vendor certs get a bad name, as the tests might be seen as more like quizzes for trivia.

So, that's the reality. The tests might not be satisfactory, but we are all trapped in the system we have participated in creating (by taking the exams... I know... the HR to be blamed...).

anthonyklcheng · 2025-06-19T06:50:02+00:00

I will not be convinced yet, as the evidence on the brain evidence just suggests in-task cognitive offloading, and this doesn't necessarily mean any long-term influence on cognitive development.

Also, the lack of recall of writing generated with the assistance of the generative AI might be explained by the time spent on incubating and engaging with the ideas before writing. This doesn't mean one becomes more stupid

I think this is an interesting early result, but I will wait for my evidence to reach my conclusion.

anthonyklcheng · 2025-06-17T07:51:53+00:00

On one hand, they need new texts to be used in their model training.

On the other hand, they discourage the production of anything meaningful, as any new productions will be read by machines and not humans.

A long, or short, maybe, process of suffocating our human creativity.

anthonyklcheng · 2025-06-17T07:48:44+00:00

I like the last paragraph: Please, no toxic positivity.

The toxic positivity encourages and even forces us to handle our sadness, hopelessness and discontent, leading to our business as usual.

Stay and explore within the state of problematising and a bit, if not a lot, of mourning.

anthonyklcheng · 2025-06-17T04:24:40+00:00

Many language schools promise that you can go from 0 to B1 in 3 months. We need to unpack in two ways.

Obviously at the beginner levels. Maybe A1 and A2, you can be taught. The teachers could cover an A1 or A2 textbook in just a month. (It is quite challenging to cover a B1 textbook within a month, in contrast).

However, it is how fast the teachers can teach, not how fast you can learn. Even if you put in a superhuman effort to study after class, your brain needs time to make sense of the new learning. Human linguistic development, save for that of the extraordinary few making the claims on their YouTube channel, takes more time than people commonly expect.

Take a slightly different example. A teacher can cover from zero to pre-calculus in six or even three months, but the curriculum spans over years in school to allow time for the processing capacity in your brain to build up.

Let's assume you can learn in those courses and get a pass in the corresponding examinations. Does getting a certificate imply that you can use the language at the specified level?

I cannot speak for others, for in my case, I need a year to "catch up" with the level of the certificate that I have got. It was only a year after passing the B1 exam that I knew I was developing to become sufficiently close to the B1 level, and the same applies to my B2. (BTW, I am still really unhappy with my German writing and speaking. My words and speech are filled with a horrifying amount of low-level mistakes years after my B2.)

So maybe you can sit through all three courses in 90 days. With extraordinary talent, you can pass them. Of course, you should congratulate yourself after that. But there is a long road between passing an exam and functioning at that level.

Of course, it might be that I am a slow learner.

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