The typical view, here, on high-school outreach seems to be that:
High-school outreach has been somewhat effective, uncovering one highly capable do-gooder per 10-100 exceptional students.
But people aren’t treating it with the requisite degree of sensitivity: they don’t think enough about what parents think, they talk about “converting people”, and there have been bad events of unprofessional behaviour.
So I think high-school outreach should be done, but done differently. Involving some teachers would be useful step toward professionalisation (separating the outreach from the rationalist community would be another).
But (1) also suggests that teaching at a school for gifted children could be a priority activity in itself. The argument is if a teacher can inspire a bright student to try to do good in their career, then the student might be manifold more effective than the teacher themselves would have been, if they had tried to work directly on the world’s problems. And students at such schools are exceptional enough (Z>2) that this could happen many times throughout a teacher’s career.
This does not mean that teaching is the best way to reach talented do-gooders. But it doesn’t have to be, because it could attract some EAs who who wouldn’t suit outreach paths. It leads to stable and respected employment, involves interpersonal contact that can be meaningful, and so on (at least, some interactions with teachers were quite meaningful to me, well before EA entered my picture).
I’ve said that teachers could help professionalise summer schools, and inspire students. I also think that a new high school for gifted altruists could be a high-priority. It could gather talented altruistic students together, so that they have more social support, and better meet their curricular needs (e.g. econ, programming, philosophy, research). I expect that such a school could attract great talent. It would be staffed with pretty talented at knowledgeable teachers. It would be advised by some professors at top schools. If necessary, by funding scholarships, it could grow its student based arbitrarily. Maybe a really promising project.
A step that I think would be good to see even sooner is any professor at a top school getting in a habit of giving talks at gifted high-schools. At some point, it might be worth a few professors each giving dozens of talks per year, although it wouldn’t have to start that way.
Edit: or maybe just people with “cool” jobs. Poker players? Athletes?
High impact teachers? (Teaching as Task Y). More recent thoughts at EA Highschool Outreach Org. See also An EA teaching pathway?
The typical view, here, on high-school outreach seems to be that:
High-school outreach has been somewhat effective, uncovering one highly capable do-gooder per 10-100 exceptional students.
But people aren’t treating it with the requisite degree of sensitivity: they don’t think enough about what parents think, they talk about “converting people”, and there have been bad events of unprofessional behaviour.
So I think high-school outreach should be done, but done differently. Involving some teachers would be useful step toward professionalisation (separating the outreach from the rationalist community would be another).
But (1) also suggests that teaching at a school for gifted children could be a priority activity in itself. The argument is if a teacher can inspire a bright student to try to do good in their career, then the student might be manifold more effective than the teacher themselves would have been, if they had tried to work directly on the world’s problems. And students at such schools are exceptional enough (Z>2) that this could happen many times throughout a teacher’s career.
This does not mean that teaching is the best way to reach talented do-gooders. But it doesn’t have to be, because it could attract some EAs who who wouldn’t suit outreach paths. It leads to stable and respected employment, involves interpersonal contact that can be meaningful, and so on (at least, some interactions with teachers were quite meaningful to me, well before EA entered my picture).
I’ve said that teachers could help professionalise summer schools, and inspire students. I also think that a new high school for gifted altruists could be a high-priority. It could gather talented altruistic students together, so that they have more social support, and better meet their curricular needs (e.g. econ, programming, philosophy, research). I expect that such a school could attract great talent. It would be staffed with pretty talented at knowledgeable teachers. It would be advised by some professors at top schools. If necessary, by funding scholarships, it could grow its student based arbitrarily. Maybe a really promising project.
A step that I think would be good to see even sooner is any professor at a top school getting in a habit of giving talks at gifted high-schools. At some point, it might be worth a few professors each giving dozens of talks per year, although it wouldn’t have to start that way.
Edit: or maybe just people with “cool” jobs. Poker players? Athletes?
Relevant