Author Archives: Alec Pan

Private Questions Europeans Dislike

1. Personal Finances

  • “How much do you earn?”
  • “How much did your house/car cost?”
  • “Are you rich?”

Why? Money is often seen as a private matter.

2. Age

  • “How old are you?” (in some contexts)

Why? Age can be sensitive, especially for women or older adults.

3. Relationship Status or Family Plans

  • “Why aren’t you married yet?”
  • “When are you having kids?”
  • “Are you dating anyone?”

Why? These questions can feel judgmental.

4. Religion or Political Affiliation

  • “What religion are you?”
  • “Who did you vote for?”

Why? Religion and politics are deeply personal.

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less can be more

The Finnish education system is often praised for its balanced, student-centered approach, prioritizing quality over quantity, well-being, and genuine curiosity.

School Day Length and Structure

Primary/lower grades (ages ~7–12/13, grades 1–6): School days are indeed typically 4–5 hours of instruction. A common schedule runs from around 8:30–9:00 AM to 1:00–2:00 PM (or slightly later some days).

Lessons are usually 45 minutes long, followed by a 15-minute break (sometimes 10–15 minutes). This rhythm is intentional—to help students recharge, move around (often outdoors), and maintain focus. Recess and outdoor play are big priorities, even in winter.

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A university student can be illiterate?

There are several documented examples where students reached university while still being functionally illiterate.

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📌 United States

A 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education (“Literacy of College Graduates”) showed that 20% of U.S. college graduates had only basic literacy skills, meaning they could not summarize a newspaper article or compare credit card offers.

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From homeschooling to investing in dropouts

Danielle Strachman (1517 fund):

“I remember the first time I went over to a homeschooler’s house; it was a totally different experience. The children were so excited for me to get there. They would ask if I could stay for multiple hours, if I could do math and science and reading. They were just oozing with enthusiasm.”

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The fun that’s already in math

When you devote yourself to making math “fun,” you are almost implying that math isn’t already enjoyable, Liu-Constant says. We’d never say that about art, she adds. The assumption is that art is inherently interesting. And for people who love math, it’s already like art, she says.

It’s crucial for the sense of play in math to extend beyond just activities and games, she says. It should be more pervasive. That’s how it is with her brother, an engineer in Taiwan, who finds math so absorbing he could spend all his spare time thinking about numbers, Liu-Constant says.

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Nobel prize winners and Novosibirsk state university

Leonid Kantorovich

was a Soviet mathematician and economist, known for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He is regarded as the founder of linear programming. He was the winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1975.

In 1948 Kantorovich was assigned to the atomic project of the USSR.

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Popular science facts

Football teams wearing red kits play better. The colour of your clothes can affect how you’re perceived by others and change how you feel. A review of football matches in the last 55 years, for example, showed that teams wearing a red kit consistently played better in home matches than teams in any other colour.

Wind turbines kill between 10,000 and 100,000 birds each year in the UK. Interestingly, painting one of the blades of a wind turbine black can reduce bird deaths by 70 per cent.

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Distracting laptops

“As instructors, we may wonder if laptop use helps or hinders learning in our classrooms. We may find ourselves on the fence—understanding that some students prefer to type their notes, but then wondering whether students are paying attention and staying engaged, and whether their laptop use may be distracting others.”

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Tuition fees in the USA

The average cost of tuition and fees to attend a ranked public college in state is about 74% less than the average sticker price at a private college, at $10,423 for the 2022-2023 year compared with $39,723, respectively, U.S. News data shows.

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The Map of Physics: Animation Shows How All the Different Fields in Physics Fit Together

From Newton’s mechanical calculations to Einstein’s general and special relativity to the baffling indeterminacy of quantum mechanics, the discipline of physics has become increasingly arcane and complex, and less and less governed by orderly laws.

This presents a problem for the layperson, who struggles to understand how Newtonian physics, with its predictable observations of physical forces, relates to the parallax and paradox of later discoveries. “If you don’t already know physics,” says physicist Dominic Walliman in the video above, it’s difficult sometimes to see how all of these different subjects are related to each other.”

So Walliman has provided a helpful visual aid: an animated video map showing the connections between classical physics, quantum physics, and relativity.

The Map of Physics: Animation Shows How All the Different Fields in Physics Fit Together

General relativity for babies

This series is entirely age-appropriate and baby-accessible, featuring bright colors and simple sentence structure; it’s just that instead of teaching words like hippopotamus they teach words like electron. A wonderful way to help stimulate interest in math and science from an extremely early age, the Baby University series is highly recommended, especially for library collections intended for pre-Kindergarten children. — Midwest Book Review

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