Ambitious

I read The Lesson to Unlearn because it was recommended in Daniel Pink's newsletter. I didn't even know who the author was.

Questions:

1. What level of respect and awe does an individual have to achieve to make recommendations that other people follow without even considering the ultimate source? I must love Daniel Pink so much that I'm willing to follow his advice without even considering who is influencing him. As I'm having this thought, I'm recognizing that I need to reconsider my stance. I need to evaluate who is influencing Daniel Pink. That stuff matters. 
2. How self-important does an individual have to feel to call for an entire society to change? I learned that Paul Graham is a programmer, writer, and investor. He's immensely smarter than I am. He makes interesting and thoughtful points. But he legitimately ends The Lesson to Unlearn with a call to action by our entire society (I don't think he defines what his/our society is, but I'm pretty sure he's talking about the USA) using the third person plural. 

I can agree with Mr. Graham on multiple levels, including that college entrance exams are hackable, which make them deceptive and bad rather than predictive and meaningful. I can agree that grades often do not reveal learning, and that tests often don't measure learning. But in making a hard point that ends with a call for societal reformation he must write and argue in extremes. That's the weakest part of his argument, and the most provocative.

I think there is potential for people of influence to advocate for reforms in assessing student learning, throughout all of formal education. I think there are opportunities for anecdotes from lived experience as well as data from formal education to be used to change how learning is valued and assessed. I wonder what it would take for Mr. Graham to invest in a startup that pitched that.