--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Have I ever remarked on how completely…" description: "\"Have I ever remarked on how completely ridiculous it is to ask high school students to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives and giv..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_allocation_have-i-ever-remarked-on-how-completely-r_3071008.jpg" --- # Have I ever remarked on how completely ridiculous it is to… ![“Have I ever remarked on how completely ridiculous it is to ask high school students to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives and give them nearly no support in doing so? Support like, say, spending a day apiece watching twenty different jobs and then another week at their top…” quote by Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_allocation_have-i-ever-remarked-on-how-completely-r_3071008.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_allocation_have-i-ever-remarked-on-how-completely-r_3071008.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_allocation_have-i-ever-remarked-on-how-completely-r_3071008.jpg) > “Have I ever remarked on how completely ridiculous it is to ask high school students to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives and give them nearly no support in doing so? Support like, say, spending a day apiece watching twenty different jobs and then another week at their top three choices, with salary charts and projections and probabilities of graduating that subject given their test scores? The more so considering this is a central allocation question for the entire economy?” [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Students are asked to plan lifelong careers without adequate exposure or data, which is unrealistic and unfair. **In simple terms:** Students need real job experience and info to choose careers. Key Takeaway Provide structured career exploration programs. Themes education career planning economics equity Mood frustrated concerned Type critical analytical When to use this quote - high school counseling - career fairs - internship programs - data-driven guidance Key Concepts human capital decision theory labor market policy design Questions to Reflect On - How can schools realistically offer such extensive exposure? - What data would best inform student choices? A Different Perspective Limited resources and institutional inertia may hinder implementation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Allocation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/allocation/) [Allocation Question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/allocation-question-5194827/) [Asks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asks/) [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Considering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/considering/) [Decide Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decide-want/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Different jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-jobs/) [Economy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economy/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Graduates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graduates/) [High school](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/high-school/) [High school students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/high-school-students/) [Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jobs/) [Probability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/probability/) [Projection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/projection/) [Ridiculous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ridiculous/) [Salary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/salary/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [School Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school-students/) [Score](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/score/) [Scores Considering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scores-considering-5194828/) [Spending](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spending/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) [Students Decide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students-decide-3911988/) [Subjects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjects/) [Support](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/support/) [Test scores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/test-scores/) [Tests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tests/) [Three](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/three/) [Twenties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twenties/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Week](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/week/) ## Related quotes > [By letting parents and students decide what is best for them, our education system is working the way it should be - equipping students…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-tuberville/by-letting-parents-and-students-decide-what-is-best-for-them-our/) [Tommy Tuberville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommy-tuberville/) > [The focus on just thinking about standardized test scores as being synonymous with achievement for teenagers is ridiculous, right? 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What matters most is character. Working hard,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-urban/the-widespread-belief-among-politicians-and-pundits-is-that-high-test/) [Hal Urban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-urban/) > [You have to remember, we may be the only nation, the only one I know of, that uses test scores not to assess kids,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-merrow/you-have-to-remember-we-may-be-the-only-nation-the-only-one-i-know-of/) [John Merrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-merrow/) > [ I think \[testing\] has had a profoundly problematic impact on student learning. It must seem to students that their worth as individuals is equivalent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-ann-tomlinson/i-think-testing-has-had-a-profoundly-problematic-impact-on-student/) [Carol Ann Tomlinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-ann-tomlinson/) > [With my academic achievement in high school, I was accepted rather readily at Princeton and equally as fast at Yale, but my test scores…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-sotomayor/with-my-academic-achievement-in-high-school-i-was-accepted-rather/) [Sonia Sotomayor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-sotomayor/) > [If there's one thing that 'No Child Left Behind' has proven, it's that more academics don't make for smarter children - or even higher…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darell-hammond/if-there-s-one-thing-that-no-child-left-behind-has-proven-it-s-that/) [Darell Hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darell-hammond/) > [ The origins of these \[schooling\] federal policies were tied to President Johnson's war on poverty. Supplemental funds were sent to school districts serving poor… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pedro-noguera/the-origins-of-these-schooling-federal-policies-were-tied-to/) [Pedro Noguera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pedro-noguera/) > [Increased physical activity during the school day can help children's attention, classroom behavior, and achievement test scores. 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I just think it could be more sensibly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/but-i-really-am-ravenclaw-you-know-not-slytherin-i-don-t-want-to-rule/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“‎If you regard evidence as a constraint and seek to free yourself, you sell yourself into the chains of your whims. For you cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/if-you-regard-evidence-as-a-constraint-and-seek-to-free-yourself-you/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“I am not sure how to explain it, except that - truth matters to us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/i-am-not-sure-how-to-explain-it-except-that-truth-matters-to-us/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [I see little hope for democracy as an effective form of government, but I admire the poetry of how it makes its victims complicit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/i-see-little-hope-for-democracy-as-an-effective-form-of-government/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“He really really really shouldn't have done that. Amazing how much more obvious that became one second after it was too late.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/he-really-really-really-shouldn-t-have-done-that-amazing-how-much/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [I'm wondering if there's a spell to make lightning flash in the background whenever I make an ominous resolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/i-m-wondering-if-there-s-a-spell-to-make-lightning-flash-in-the/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“There’s a technique we use in our local rationalist cluster called “Is That Your True Rejection?”, and it works like this: Before you stake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/there-s-a-technique-we-use-in-our-local-rationalist-cluster-called-is/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [Lonely dissent doesn't feel like going to school dressed in black. 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There are a very few injunctions in the human art of rationality that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/it-is-triple-ultra-forbidden-to-respond-to-criticism-with-violence/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [The human species was not born into a market economy. Bees won't sell you honey if you offer them an electronic funds transfer. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/the-human-species-was-not-born-into-a-market-economy-bees-won-t-sell/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“Frigideiro! " said Hermione again from the desk next to him. Her water was solid ice and there were white crystals forming on the rim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/frigideiro-said-hermione-again-from-the-desk-next-to-him-her-water/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“And then Harry Potter had launched in to a speech that was inspiring, yet vague. A speech to the effect that Fred and George…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/and-then-harry-potter-had-launched-in-to-a-speech-that-was-inspiring/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“And I know that I'd just make myself unhappy by comparing that reality to... something perfect that I built up in my imagination.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/and-i-know-that-i-d-just-make-myself-unhappy-by-comparing-that/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) [Explore all 274 Eliezer Yudkowsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) ## More Allocation quotes > [I think that the first thing is you should have a strategic asset allocation mix that assumes that you don't know what the future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/i-think-that-the-first-thing-is-you-should-have-a-strategic-asset/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [It is a mark of how far we have gone on the road to serfdom that government allocation and rationing of oil is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/it-is-a-mark-of-how-far-we-have-gone-on-the-road-to-serfdom-that/) [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) > [Accounting consequences do not influence our operating or capital-allocation decisions. 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Edwards Deming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-edwards-deming/) > [If everybody is rewarded just for being alive, you get the same sort of effect as you do when you reward every student just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-i-hayakawa/if-everybody-is-rewarded-just-for-being-alive-you-get-the-same-sort/) [S. I. Hayakawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-i-hayakawa/) > [The goal of socialism is a fairer allocation of economic resources, which its advocates often claim will also be a less wasteful one. Socialism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-postrel/the-goal-of-socialism-is-a-fairer-allocation-of-economic-resources/) [Virginia Postrel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-postrel/) > [We can extrapolate from the study that for the long term individual investor who maintains a consistent asset allocation and leans toward index funds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-g-ibbotson/we-can-extrapolate-from-the-study-that-for-the-long-term-individual/) [Roger G. Ibbotson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-g-ibbotson/) > [The water trading mechanism where there are transparent trades of water allocations is one that is good for us to learn from because it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-levine/the-water-trading-mechanism-where-there-are-transparent-trades-of/) [Marc Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-levine/) > [“Allocate your resources wisely for all men have been endowed with abilities that are more than sufficient to accomplish even the greatest of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stella-payton/allocate-your-resources-wisely-for-all-men-have-been-endowed-with/) [Stella Payton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stella-payton/) > [The necessity for power is obvious, because life cannot be lived without order; but the allocation of power is arbitrary because all men are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/the-necessity-for-power-is-obvious-because-life-cannot-be-lived/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [What is the manager's job? It is to direct the resources and the efforts of the business toward opportunities for economically significant results. 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