Your child doesn’t hate learning (here’s what’s really going on)

💡 THOUGHT

“My kids hates learning”

MYTH: “My kid hates learning”

TRUTH: Your kid probably just hates:

• One-size-fits-all
• Being tested on things they haven’t mastered
• Learning on someone else’s schedule
• Having their curiosity ignored

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📊 TREND

Long live physical books?

We learn more from reading on paper than on screens.

54 studies, 171k people: we process print more deeply than digital content—as long as it's informational rather than purely narrative.

The paper advantage holds across ages and has grown over time. Long live physical books. pic.twitter.com/xH6bsGT6FQ

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 9, 2024

We’re lucky to live in a time where the world’s information is at our fingertips. Interactive learning apps and AI tutors also have certain advantages that books don’t. But there’s always a place for the good old-fashioned printed word.

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⚒️ TOOL

EdX.org: Learn First, Pay Later (Or Never)

Here’s what we tell teenagers:

Wait four years.
Spend six figures.
Then find out if you like what you studied.

That’s backwards.

EdX flips the script.

Your 16-year-old wants to understand artificial intelligence? There’s an MIT course for that. Curious about business fundamentals? Columbia’s got you covered. Want to try programming? UC Berkeley will teach you.

Our favorite feature is the ability to “audit” courses at no cost. Same content, professors, assignments, and skills. The only difference is you don’t take the official tests, and you don’t get a certificate at the end.

“But wait,” you might say, “don’t employers want to see the certificate?”

Would you rather have…
A) A certificate saying you completed a Python course or
B) A GitHub portfolio of actual Python projects you built?

The skills are the meal. The certification is just a receipt.

Visit edX.org and browse courses from bookkeeping to project management.

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(WORD) OF THE DAY

Bookkeeping

Speaking of bookkeeping, did you ever notice that it’s the only English word with three consecutive pairs of double letters (if you exclude its step-sister, bookkeeper)?

The practice dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, where merchants tracked trades on clay tablets. By medieval times, Italian merchants had developed double-entry bookkeeping, recording both credits and debits.

These days, most bookkeeping happens digitally – but the principle remains the same as those ancient clay tablets: track what comes in, track what goes out, and hope the numbers add up!

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That’s all for today!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)