I've always loved the books. I grew up near Ashdown forest. When I visited the UK again I stayed in Hartfield and went to the little cafe they mention in the article. It was nice, my kids enjoyed it.
I was reminded this year that my Winnie the Pooh is not everyones when someone at work posted a quote that made no sense to me. I read some of the poems Milne wrote, thinking it must be from those. Of course it was just from a more recent Disney movie. It was about being smarter than you think, it made me chuckle anyway because quite a few of the original stories are about what happens when you think you're smart. Milne might not have the best reputation as a good bloke, but his writing about childhood was subtle and grounded.
Parents still have the ability to raise their children according to their own values, despite the most earnest and eager intentions of the dopamine-dealing crowd. That bug hasn't yet been engineered out of society.
You are right, parents can still steer their children.
But in some cases like mine, parents might not have the time or inclination to do so, for whatever reasons.
I was able to discover Pickwick Papers, Hardy Boys, Harry Potter, Lord of the Flies, Spirited Away, Almost Famous, etc. on my own. If I were young today, I don't think I would discover the right things.
Yet when we do this by, say, homeschooling, the HN commentariat piles up hundreds of comments accusing us of child neglect and a lack of concern for society.
Do they? I've mentioned homeschooling on hn before without issue. There's always knobs who can't have a nuanced view of course, but generally the discussions I've seen have tended positive.
This[1] thread has a good collection of them. Has plenty of comments in favor of course, but the negative ones are present in high quantities. There's a reason even anodyne headlines like that can get 800+ comments on HN.
I missed that one. But it seems like a lively debate for the most part rather than a single opinion pile on.
But yeah I get your point that it's like there's an unreasonable number of people who have a strong opinion on it despite having no actual experience or evidence or reason to comment. Homeschool is a small minority and the majority are biased to what they know. We homeschool 3 kids, didn't intend to to it before it happened, and I would have held some very incorrect opinions about it too, for what little thought I ever actually gave it.
I was reminded this year that my Winnie the Pooh is not everyones when someone at work posted a quote that made no sense to me. I read some of the poems Milne wrote, thinking it must be from those. Of course it was just from a more recent Disney movie. It was about being smarter than you think, it made me chuckle anyway because quite a few of the original stories are about what happens when you think you're smart. Milne might not have the best reputation as a good bloke, but his writing about childhood was subtle and grounded.
I was a quiet kid. Books, shows, and films shaped my sensibilities and moral tastes.
I wonder if that remains possible today. Content designed solely for the dopamine hit seems to crowd out everything else.
Parents still have the ability to raise their children according to their own values, despite the most earnest and eager intentions of the dopamine-dealing crowd. That bug hasn't yet been engineered out of society.
But in some cases like mine, parents might not have the time or inclination to do so, for whatever reasons.
I was able to discover Pickwick Papers, Hardy Boys, Harry Potter, Lord of the Flies, Spirited Away, Almost Famous, etc. on my own. If I were young today, I don't think I would discover the right things.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999842
But yeah I get your point that it's like there's an unreasonable number of people who have a strong opinion on it despite having no actual experience or evidence or reason to comment. Homeschool is a small minority and the majority are biased to what they know. We homeschool 3 kids, didn't intend to to it before it happened, and I would have held some very incorrect opinions about it too, for what little thought I ever actually gave it.
I was surprised at how much negativity surrounded the topic, despite what feels like a general dissatisfaction with the public schools at this time.
It was dismantled and replaced with a replica which is still in place in Ashdown Forest.
The original structure sold at auction in 2021 for £131,000.