1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,120 OK, so welcome back to game theory. 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:08,640 And as I discussed last class, our goal is able to is to use 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,680 game theory to analyse global events to understand why they're 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,560 happening as well as make certain predictions about how 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,800 they should develop. But to do that, I first need to 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,920 train your mind and how and how to see the world using game 7 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,360 theory. So last class in our first 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,280 class, we discussed example of the dating game of why men and 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:35,720 women are motivated to behave the the way they do when they 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,360 look for a mate. Today I want I want to discuss 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,040 the issue of school. OK, school. 12 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,120 So for the first few classes, I'm going to use examples from 13 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,360 your life that you know pretty well in order to develop the 14 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,920 mindset for game theory. So school is something that you 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,080 should know very, very well. As you know, the purpose of 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:05,040 school is to train you in a way that allows you to be functional 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,080 in society as well as to be creative, right? 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:14,080 OK, so the goals are basically literacy, right? 19 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,640 Which means reading and writing. This is the primary purpose of 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,440 school because in order to function in our society, you 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,640 need to be able to absorb information and convey 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:34,840 information, OK? Number 2 is basically what we 23 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:41,200 call the core competencies, OK? These are skills that you need 24 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,520 to be successful in life, including the ability to think 25 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,520 critically, to cooperate with others, to collap, to 26 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,160 collaborate, to communicate. OK, you all know this. 27 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,560 The last thing is what we call lifelong learning. 28 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:08,639 So in the age of AI, in the age of globalization, school is just 29 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,840 a start of the learning process because every five years the 30 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,200 whole changes. So you need to be in a constant 31 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,160 process, a constant state of learning. 32 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,640 OK, so you have to like actually love learning and you have to 33 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:24,960 like know how to learn for yourself. 34 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,320 So these these are the three basic purposes of school and 35 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,800 that's why you're at the school. Unfortunately, what we know is 36 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,680 that most schools, I'm not saying all schools, I'm saying 37 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,400 that most schools are pretty bad at these three things. 38 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,440 In fact, you can make the argument that most schools not 39 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,240 only do not teach you these skills, but they have the 40 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,000 opposite effect. In fact, they make you hate 41 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,520 learning. OK, so let's look at literacy. 42 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:00,520 Today. In most schools, you're not 43 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,240 required to read books. In fact, when you're in 44 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:08,120 university, the professors there are so shocked that you don't 45 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:13,640 read books that instead they make you read paragraphs or 46 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,680 watch videos. OK, so just literacy. 47 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:23,760 Around the world, people are losing the capacity to read and 48 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,400 to write. And not only that, the people's 49 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:33,160 attention spans have decreased. It's very hard for a professor 50 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,840 to give you an hour lecture. People lose focus after about 5 51 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,600 minutes. OK, so this is one problem. 52 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,920 Another problem is school is supposed to teach you 53 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,880 creativity, critical thinking skills, collaboration, but it 54 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,240 doesn't do that. But the collaboration in school, 55 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:56,160 it's a competition where you believe that it's a 0 sum game. 56 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,240 So for you to get ahead, you need to school over your 57 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,080 classmate. So class ranking is very 58 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:04,800 important. So that's kind of odd, OK. 59 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,920 And the last thing, of course, is lifelong learning, where 60 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:15,520 school teaches you to hate school and therefore teaches you 61 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,000 how to hate learning, especially in China, OK? 62 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,520 Especially in China where you work hard until the national 63 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,640 entrance examination, age 18. And then after the examination 64 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:29,520 ends, what do you do? You burn your books. 65 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:31,360 That's a great ceremony here in China. 66 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,680 Right after the examination, you take your books, you about the 67 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,760 pages and you throw it in the sky to to signal your 68 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,920 liberation, your liberation. And you're like, I never, ever 69 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,280 want to read a book again. I never, ever want to take a 70 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:44,920 test again. I never want to learn again. 71 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:52,120 OK, so around the world, most schools, not all schools there 72 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,440 are there are some really good schools out there, but most 73 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,080 schools are failing in their mission. 74 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,720 School sucks. And so the question for us today 75 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,800 is why is this the case? And so we're going to use game 76 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,240 theory to analyze why this is the case. 77 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:17,720 All right, So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to tell you 78 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,680 a story about myself. So the year is 2008. 79 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,680 I went to Yale College, OK, in the United States, and I was an 80 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,480 English major. I did very well in school. 81 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:35,200 So I was hired in 2008 to go to Shenzhen in South China and help 82 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,040 the school, Shenzhen Middle School, build an an 83 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,320 international program to send kids abroad. 84 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,560 OK? So this 2008, which was a long 85 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,240 time ago and back then, not, not that many students wanted to go 86 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:47,640 abroad. There were really few 87 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,320 international schools. So the first thing I did was I 88 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,200 looked at the situation at the school, OK, And this and this, 89 00:05:54,200 --> 00:06:01,640 this, this what I found, OK, I found that students, even though 90 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,120 they're going abroad, maybe about 10% of the students were 91 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,640 planning to go abroad. So that's about 80 students each 92 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:09,680 year. That's a lot. 93 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,640 But the way they were going about the process of sitting 94 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,480 abroad was problematic. OK, so first of all, all they 95 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:18,520 were doing was taking regular Chinese classes. 96 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,600 And you know, in Chinese classes, all you do is you sit 97 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,000 in a room of 50 kids and you stick notes and you take tests. 98 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,880 You don't communicate, you don't ask questions, you don't debate. 99 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,840 OK, so that's one problem. Another problem is that the 100 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,840 students are spending all their time memorizing SAT word list, 101 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,360 OK? They were not reading, they were 102 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,440 not writing, They were just memorizing words. 103 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,120 And the other thing that they did to make their applications 104 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:57,000 look good is Model United Nations, OK? 105 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,840 And that's fine. Maybe some of you on Model 106 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:04,000 United Nations, and that's a good activity, but everyone was 107 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,040 doing it. There's actually no 108 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,200 differentiation. All right, So I looked at the 109 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,160 situation and I said no. I mean, you might be able to get 110 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,520 into a good American University because, you know, these kids 111 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,280 are very smart. But I wanted them to do well at 112 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:22,840 the university and to do well in life. 113 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,520 OK? So I made certain changes to the 114 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,480 curriculum and to the school. OK. 115 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,760 So first thing I did was I set up a seminar system. 116 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,560 So rather than in Chinese classes, I invited the American 117 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,480 teachers to come and teach seminars like we have at the 118 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:44,600 school where 1020 kids are in a room and they discuss books that 119 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:50,440 they read together. OK, rather than SAT word 120 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,760 memorization, I had them read books. 121 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,600 Students were required to read a lot of books. 122 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,840 In fact, I established A5000 book English library at the 123 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,800 school where students can just go and borrow books and read. 124 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,160 I wanted to teach students the joy of reading. 125 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,840 And then in terms of activities, I didn't want students to do 126 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:13,840 modern United Nations anymore because I didn't want kids 127 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,720 sitting around just talking. I wanted to let them do things. 128 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:18,880 OK, So I set up two new new activities. 129 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:23,720 The 1st is called the coffee house and the coffee house is is 130 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,160 the first coffee house in China in the Chinese high school. 131 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:28,920 There are lots of coffee houses today. 132 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,320 When I was the first person, two separate coffee house where 133 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,799 students had to run a business, they had to work as waiters and 134 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:40,400 provide good service to customers. 135 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,440 And it was it was a collaboration effort. 136 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,200 As you can imagine, this is great for the students to learn 137 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,200 collaboration, to learn finance, to learn entrepreneurship. 138 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:50,640 OK. So that's a very successful 139 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,760 activity. Do you have a question? 140 00:08:53,760 --> 00:09:01,840 Yeah, OK. I mean, was that like similar 141 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:06,000 with our moon coffee? Like the coffee in the West S 142 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,400 store? OK, 2008. 143 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:10,800 I was the first person to do anything. 144 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:12,480 OK, OK. OK. 145 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,400 Just, I mean, like, yeah, similar. 146 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,560 Yeah. All right, so the coffee house 147 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:19,920 was an activity I set up, which was very successful. 148 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:21,960 It's still there today. Guys, if you go to senior middle 149 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,720 school, you'll see the coffee house still there a long, long 150 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:27,000 time after I I went away. The other thing I did was 151 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,320 something called the daily newspaper. 152 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:34,920 And this was the first daily newspaper in China in a high 153 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,800 school and probably maybe even around the world, where students 154 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:42,960 everyday had to report, collect information, write articles, 155 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,080 edit and publish it. And they worked until like 156 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,360 midnight, sometimes until 2:00 AM. 157 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,760 And then at 7:00 AM they had to get up and deliver the newspaper 158 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:53,560 to all the students. And these are two very 159 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:59,320 successful activities. And so I understand game theory 160 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:03,600 and I say, OK, if you want to make this transition from the 161 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,320 old system to new system, you also have to establish a new 162 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,840 culture to allow these activities to flourish. 163 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:23,440 And so my three major principles were transparency, innovation, 164 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:33,600 OK, transparency, innovation, openness. 165 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:42,680 And so my idea was this, rather than accept a curriculum that 166 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:47,000 was perfect, it would be a curriculum that would evolve 167 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,960 over time. We would learn mistakes 168 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,000 together. We would admit these mistakes, 169 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:55,320 and then we would correct them together. 170 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,120 And that's what learning is. OK. 171 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,400 So the idea of transparency also, I made changes all the 172 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:07,720 time, which created some chaos, which is a time for us to 173 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:13,320 reflect and to be resilient. Now it's very open and honest 174 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:15,920 about everything that I was doing and this. 175 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,440 And so this system in a very short amount of time, even 176 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,080 though it was a lot of problems in beginning, it became a very 177 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,080 effective system after a semester or a year. 178 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,120 And not only that, the students who went for this program did 179 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,600 very well in life. They went to Yale, they went to 180 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:38,000 they went to Wharton, Cornell. And this program actually in 181 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,840 middle school became the most famous program in South China. 182 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:50,080 And when our students have the best record of cost emissions in 183 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:54,240 South China. OK, so this sounds great, right? 184 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,800 OK, the problem is this. The problem is what happened 185 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,200 after I established the program. The first one that happened was, 186 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:08,360 OK, I was fired. They said get out of here. 187 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,280 OK. Second of all, the teachers, the 188 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,920 parents, the students were all happy to see me go. 189 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:21,400 They were like, get out of here, we never want to see you again. 190 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:26,400 The third thing that happened was I did kind of beat yourself 191 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,600 a new program that was very similar to this, OK. 192 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,440 But after that, after four years of doing this and being very 193 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,680 successful at this, I was never allowed to set up another 194 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:39,200 program again. No one wanted me to work in 195 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:43,880 management again, OK, So even though I was successful, you 196 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,960 know, I worked really hard, even though I was innovative, even 197 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,600 though I set up really the best study board program in all of 198 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,360 China, I was the first. Everyone else copying me 199 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:59,520 afterwards, I was fired, no one wanted me to stay, and I was not 200 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,280 allowed to do this ever again. Why? 201 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:10,160 OK, Well the reason is this. When I was doing this, the word 202 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:15,160 that everyone used to describe me was not reformer, not 203 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:21,040 visionary, not idealist, not dreamer, but dictator. 204 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:29,120 OK, One other word that they used that was that was more 205 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,200 common was this guy's an asshole? 206 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,440 OK, this guy's a complete asshole. 207 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,960 Why? Because I insisted on fairness. 208 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,520 OK, I don't care who you are. I don't care who your parents 209 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:50,440 are. I want you to work hard and 210 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,160 learn. And as you can imagine, that 211 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:56,040 pissed off a lot of powerful people because that's not how 212 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,080 the game is played in China, OK? It's actually not the game how 213 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:00,480 this game is played anywhere in the world. 214 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,920 The game's not fair. The game is established by 215 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,880 stakeholders, and they play the game according to their 216 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:14,680 interests. OK, so let's go over what 217 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:16,040 happened. All right. 218 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:24,320 OK, so my I understand that there are stakeholders, and the 219 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,120 stakeholders in game theory are just the players. 220 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:33,680 OK, the players. And who are the players? 221 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:43,680 Well, you have the students, you have the parents, you have the 222 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:52,720 teachers, you have the administrators, the school 223 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:58,280 leaders, you have the government, OK. 224 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,200 And then you have the colleges. The college are the US colleges 225 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:04,400 where I'm trying to send my students. 226 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:06,880 OK, So these are the players in the game. 227 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,120 And if you want to send game theory, you need to understand 228 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,360 the motivations and interests of all the different players that 229 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,760 tells you why or how they will behave the way they do OK, So 230 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,640 look, so here is my original understanding of the players, 231 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,920 which was clearly wrong, OK? Because I got fired, all right. 232 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,760 So the students, the students wanted to like, love to learn, 233 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:39,640 get into Ivy League and be the best, OK? 234 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,360 So I thought that students what their motivation was to be the 235 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:48,560 best possible person, to work hard, to love learning, to be 236 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,720 famous, to get in Ivy League. OK, Clearly this is wrong. 237 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,680 OK, What I'm saying back then, what my thinking was the 238 00:15:54,720 --> 00:16:00,280 parents, well, the parents wanted successful kids who were 239 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:07,360 independent, OK, independent. And they wanted face, right? 240 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,440 So they want their kids to get into the Ivy League. 241 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:13,640 All right? Teachers. 242 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:19,400 Well, teachers wanted to do a good job, right? 243 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,640 They want to teach students. They love teaching. 244 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:28,960 They love students. They just want to be given the 245 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,600 space and the opportunity to teach what their passion is. 246 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,240 OK. Administrators. 247 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,040 Administrators. I really didn't like 248 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,560 administrators, so I just thought they were just, they 249 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,000 wanted good results, OK, that's all good results. 250 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,040 As I'm going to, as I'm going to provide a good result. 251 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,000 They're happy, OK, The government, they wanted 252 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,040 innovation. They wanted good workers. 253 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:02,040 They wanted, you know, they want technology, OK, They want a 254 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:07,599 strong China. Colleges wanted the best 255 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:15,280 possible potential, OK? They wanted students who will be 256 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,800 the leaders of the future, OK, So 2008, when I set the program, 257 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:23,560 this is my assumptions about who the players were and what muted 258 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:28,760 them, OK? Clearly, clearly I was wrong 259 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,000 about who they were, OK, So let's go over. 260 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,480 Let's now do an announcement of what they really, really want, 261 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:42,840 OK? And the easy answer is that in 262 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:47,080 game theory, all the players, what they're motivated in is by 263 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:52,440 achieving the best possible results by doing the least 264 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,840 amount of work possible. OK, Just remember that that's a 265 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,360 principle here. Everyone wants to achieve the 266 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:03,640 best results by doing the least amount of work possible. 267 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,920 People are lazy and people are greedy. 268 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,920 It's that simple, guys. OK, so students, they wanted to 269 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,160 get in the Ivy League, but they didn't want to work hard to get 270 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,720 in the Ivy League. They wanted to do as little work 271 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:23,280 as possible. And if it meant they had to work 272 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:25,280 hard to get Ivy League, they they were like, I don't want to 273 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,320 get in the Ivy League. Then I'll just get into another 274 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,960 school because who cares? OK, The best possible result, 275 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,760 least possible work parents are like, yeah, I can let my kid 276 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,080 work hard, but what's important is for me to control my kid, 277 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,600 right? For to make to because only I 278 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:43,000 know how to ensure my kid succeeds. 279 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,880 So I need to. I don't want my kids to think 280 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,120 critically or in or be independent. 281 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,240 I want my kids to obey me. The teachers are like, listen, 282 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:55,440 this is a job, man, OK, I have kids. 283 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,160 I don't want to work hard. I just want to come to school, 284 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,440 do what I'm supposed to do, do what is minimally required me to 285 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:03,800 collect my salary and then go home. 286 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,520 I don't want to teach my passion because I don't have any 287 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,320 passion. OK, administrator. 288 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,520 So like, Oh my God. What's important is for me to 289 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:15,840 make sure the powerful parents are happy. 290 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:17,360 I don't care about everyone else. 291 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:21,400 I don't care about poor parents. I don't care about middle class 292 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,400 parents. As long as the parents who are 293 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,920 powerful are happy, I can keep my I can keep my job, right? 294 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,600 The government is like, you know what? 295 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,320 I don't want innovation in this country, even though I say I 296 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,280 want I want it because I don't want problems in life, OK? 297 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,280 I just want things to just stable the way they are and 298 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:45,400 everyone's happy. OK, So now we understand what 299 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:46,800 happened. All right? 300 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,000 All right. So now, what I will show you is 301 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,760 this. I will show you how a game is 302 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,080 constructed. A game is constructed when all 303 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,920 the different players agree on the rules and incentives of the 304 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:04,360 game. All right, I was an outsider. 305 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,800 I was not a player. I came in to construct a game in 306 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,560 which I felt that students would thrive, and they did thrive. 307 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,360 But that's not what they want, OK? 308 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,280 They wanted to have control over the game, and they lose control. 309 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,400 Well, they call you and they call you the outsider. 310 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,480 An asshole. OK, all right, so let's do this 311 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:31,160 again and objectively think about what the interests and 312 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,360 motivations of each player are. And when their interests 313 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,720 converge, that's the game they play. 314 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:49,280 All right, so you have students, parents, teachers, leaders, 315 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:53,240 school administrators and then the colleges. 316 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,400 OK. Another thing that you have to 317 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,280 do in game theory that's very important is you have to rank 318 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,000 the power of power of each player. 319 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:06,960 You have a question? Government. 320 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,200 Excuse me? The government? 321 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,240 Yes. Sorry, you're right. 322 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,320 I forgot about the government. OK. 323 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:20,240 And the government, another thing that that you have to do 324 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:23,880 in game theory is you have to rank the importance of the 325 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,440 players, OK, so not all players are equal. 326 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,600 So in this game theory, even though there are students, and 327 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,720 students are the majority, students actually don't matter, 328 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:38,320 OK, What students actually think and what don't actually matter, 329 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:44,080 what matters, of course, are the parents, because the parents pay 330 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,120 to play in this game, and parents can cause a lot of 331 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:49,200 problems if they don't get what they want. 332 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,320 OK, so the most important are the parents, and yet the 333 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,760 teachers. Why? 334 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,080 Because the teachers are the ones who are implementing the 335 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,480 wolves of the game, OK? The way that teachers behave 336 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,320 determines how this game is played. 337 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,880 And then these two are the most important. 338 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,960 OK, then maybe you have administrators as well, but 339 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,480 they're not as important as the parents and the teachers. 340 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,160 The government doesn't really matter because they don't really 341 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,680 care, right? It's one school among thousands. 342 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,320 Who cares what the school does as long as it doesn't cost me 343 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:24,880 any problems. The colleges don't care either. 344 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,120 They say they want really passionate students who are 345 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:31,760 curious, who are matching it from China. 346 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,000 They don't care, OK, For them, it's just business. 347 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,280 They just want students who are willing to pay money to get a 348 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,040 copy education in America. All right, so the cost don't 349 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,240 really matter. Don't take anyone who's willing 350 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,520 to pay. And the Ivy League, Yeah, 351 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,160 everyone's in the Ivy League. But who do the Ivy League want? 352 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,640 They want people who are to be successful in life, Right? 353 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:56,880 And who are these people? Not the best students. 354 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,720 These are people from powerful families. 355 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,000 OK, so this game is great, right? 356 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,560 They have all this talk about, you know, we want the best 357 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,440 motivated students, want peer students who are curious, We're 358 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:08,760 passionate. It's all nonsense. 359 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,160 Yeah, that's not how the game is played. 360 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:11,600 So the college don't even matter either. 361 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,800 OK, so these are the three major players, the parents, the 362 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,800 teachers, administrators, students, government colleges. 363 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,480 They are in this game. They don't really matter. 364 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:26,560 So now what we're going to do is we'll analyze the mentality, the 365 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,440 world view, the interests of each player, OK. 366 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,960 And again, once we do that, once we figure out where they 367 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,560 converge, then we know how the game is constructed. 368 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,000 All right, So let's look at students. 369 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,480 Students, OK? I mean, they want to be popular, 370 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,240 right? So most students come to school 371 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,920 and actually the priorities have to learn the priorities to make 372 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,720 friends and to be popular among their friends. 373 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:55,440 OK, That'd be. That's just human nature. 374 00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:03,160 That's true, right. Then you have please teachers 375 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,920 and parents. This guy, this is really 376 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,240 important to understand. You're not in school not to 377 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,960 learn. You're in school to please 378 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,240 parents. And the teachers. 379 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,880 Why? Because parents are the ones who 380 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,680 pay for your way in life, right? The ones who give you food. 381 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:20,480 Teachers are one who gives you grades. 382 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,160 You're not going to learn. You're going to please them. 383 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:27,800 There's a difference, OK. And grades are a way of showing 384 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,920 how well you're pleasing the parents and the teachers. 385 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:34,480 OK. Is that true? 386 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,360 All right. And then you're like, have fun. 387 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,000 OK, And then get a good college. OK. 388 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:53,120 All right. So am I missing anything among 389 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,520 the students? All right, so, OK, I'm sure 390 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,080 there's more, but, but let's just keep on going, OK? 391 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,280 Not parents. Well, the parents, what they 392 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,080 want is, of course, successful kids. 393 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:09,160 But they want successful kids not because they believe that 394 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,440 success will make their kid happy. 395 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:16,040 What they really want, of course, is face right. 396 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,800 They want their kid to go to the Ivy League and then when the kid 397 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,720 of the Ivy League provides a good education or their kid will 398 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,880 be happy at the Ivy League, they just want to brag their 399 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:28,840 relatives and their friends and their colleagues. 400 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,920 My kid is at Brown or Cornell or Dartmouth. 401 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:40,120 OK, but face also means to treat education as a luxury product. 402 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,520 Why do parents send kids to national schools? 403 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,760 Not because national schools provide a better education. 404 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,840 It's because international schools are more expensive. 405 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,120 And most importantly, international schools have white 406 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:55,440 faces, right? White faces. 407 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:06,120 OK, This is the main marketing tool of international schools, 408 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,240 right? They have all these white faces, 409 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,280 white teachers and like, Oh my God, this is a real National 410 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:14,920 School now. You don't care if the what if 411 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:16,800 the teachers are actually good at what they're doing. 412 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:18,440 You don't care if the kids are actually learning. 413 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:19,920 You don't care what the curriculum is. 414 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:21,240 You don't understand that sort of stuff. 415 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,280 You just understand, OK, 10 white faces. 416 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,160 Therefore this is a good school. It's that simple. 417 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,480 OK. And then of course, you want 418 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:34,640 some good outcome, OK, You want you want a good outcome. 419 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:36,800 You don't care if your kid that's actually learning in 420 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,960 school. What you want is your kid to get 421 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,240 good grades, to get in a good college, OK? 422 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,640 These are not the same thing, right? 423 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,680 So that's the parents and the teachers. 424 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,800 Teachers are really simple because teachers do this job and 425 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:58,440 for them the priority is to do as little work as possible to 426 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:00,440 get by. OK? 427 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,360 I'm not saying all teachers. I'm saying the majority of 428 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:06,480 teachers in the school are just trying to get by because quite 429 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,520 honestly, they have families and they have other 430 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,960 responsibilities, so they don't have time to focus entirely in 431 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:18,120 school, OK, So basically just get by, OK. 432 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:25,920 Or the minimum amount of work. OK, You may not, you may not 433 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,520 believe this, but like when you actually grow up and get a job, 434 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,960 you'll do the same thing, OK? You just get the do a minimum 435 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,120 amount of work in order to get by Administrators. 436 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,880 They want good outcomes, but what their real priority is to 437 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:45,080 protect relationship with parents. 438 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:50,280 OK, Just give parents what they want, OK, Their job is to sell 439 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,360 the school. So, so whatever parents want, 440 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:56,120 you just give it to them. And administrators also, by the 441 00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:58,680 way, have families. This is a job for them. 442 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,640 They also just want to get by, OK? 443 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,480 They're not trying to build the best school possible. 444 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:05,160 They're not trying to change the world. 445 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:06,320 They're not trying to educate students. 446 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,480 They're just trying to get by, do the least amount of work in 447 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:14,280 order to get by. Government is OK. 448 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,520 They say they want innovation, creativity, technology, but 449 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:22,920 really it's just like, no problems, guys, OK? 450 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,120 As long as you don't carry any problems for us, we're happy 451 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:27,760 with you. Just stay away from us. 452 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,840 We're happy to not bother you. Please don't come bother us. 453 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,560 Yeah, that's government. Also, what they want is for 454 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,360 students who will also be no problems in the future. 455 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:39,480 Right? Right. 456 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,920 So compliance. So as long as schools are 457 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:49,280 teaching you how to obey authority, how to comply, how to 458 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,840 do what you're told, they're happy you're a good school. 459 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:57,560 Colleges, again, just want the money, OK? 460 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,840 That's all they care about. If you're willing to go to 461 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:01,720 American College and pay how much? 462 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,800 How much is it nowadays? Like 50,100 thousand a year? 463 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,200 That's a lot of money, guys. OK, If you want to pay that, 464 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,200 they'll take you. I guarantee you, you even if you 465 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,680 don't speak English, they'll take you. 466 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,160 All right? Yeah. 467 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,280 So you mentioned that earlier, like the the, the purpose of 468 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,800 education are that three things, but now schools don't do that. 469 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,480 So what caused the transformation? 470 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:31,880 Yeah, that's a really good question. 471 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:32,840 When? Yeah. 472 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,680 OK. So what we discussed last class 473 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:38,480 is the idea of superstructure, right? 474 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:50,080 Superstructure, sorry. Superstructure is just the macro 475 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,600 picture of society. It's demographics, how many 476 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,080 people are there? It's economy, it's politics, 477 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:59,760 it's religion, OK? And we discuss how societies are 478 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,760 born, they mature, and then they die, OK? 479 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,560 So there's actually another way of understanding this. 480 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,360 You can actually use three metrics to understand how 481 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,280 societies develop, OK? And these three metrics are 482 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:25,440 cohesion, openness, and energy. OK, So what is energy? 483 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,240 Energy just means you want to work hard, OK? 484 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,440 You are, you believe you're motivated, you're driven, you 485 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,640 work hard all the time. And working hard just doesn't 486 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:39,920 mean like you work 12 hours. It just means like you're 487 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,080 focused, you're attentive, right? 488 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,160 So for example, if you're working at a restaurant as a 489 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,480 cook, you want to make a really good meal, OK? 490 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,120 You're energetic about it, OK, Does that make sense? 491 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:57,440 That's energy. OK, so openness just means that 492 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,880 you want to learn, you want to grow, you're willing to admit 493 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,840 you made a mistake and improve on yourself. 494 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,600 OK. And the last thing is cohesion. 495 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:14,960 Where you are, you see yourself as part of a society, part of 496 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:20,160 part of a community of people, and you want your community to 497 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,760 grow as well. And we have all three things 498 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,560 together. The schools are great. 499 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,960 OK. And so, for example, go to 500 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,000 Finland. It's a small country, maybe 501 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,920 about 5 million people, but the schools are amazing. 502 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,320 Why? Because Finland is an energetic, 503 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,000 open and cozy society. When you hear that, what you 504 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,160 want to do is invest in the future. 505 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,160 And what that means is you want to, you have to make sure that 506 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,280 every child, not just your child, but every child has good 507 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:55,440 future, has good education. And So what you do is you have 508 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,480 your best employers become teachers, right? 509 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,160 You pay them very well, you give them high status and you give 510 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,040 them a lot of atonement freedom because then they feel 511 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,720 respected. And if you do that, the schools 512 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,920 are great. And guess what, guys in China in 513 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,880 maybe 1980s, the schools are amazing here. 514 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,440 OK, what we're seeing today is today. 515 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,840 But if you go back to the 1980's, the schools were really 516 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:24,760 good. If you went to school in China, 517 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:25,920 I'm not talking about like the best one. 518 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:27,440 I'm just talking about like an average school. 519 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,880 Teachers felt respected. They believed that the 520 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,840 responsibility to train the young. 521 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:40,840 They took pride and joy in their work and the students enjoy 522 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,000 learning. And guess what? 523 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,480 Back in 1980s, kids did less work. 524 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,160 There were less tests, there was less pressure, and they learn a 525 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:56,560 lot more. OK, so when a society starts and 526 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:58,440 begins, you have these three aspects. 527 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,800 But over time, what happens is all three decline. 528 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,640 Why? Because there's more corruption, 529 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,400 there's more inequality, there's more wealth. 530 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:18,080 OK, So what happens is wealth generation and inequality, 531 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,480 corruption. And so people feel under stress. 532 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,080 OK, So rather than cohesion, you have individualization, 533 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,200 individual, OK, does that make sense? 534 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,800 Where everyone's like, you know what, I don't care if other kids 535 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,640 are doing well. What's important is that my kid 536 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,560 does well because it's a 0 sum game. 537 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,280 If if, if all the other kids in the school do really well, but 538 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,120 my kid flunks out, I'm dead. I'm screwed. 539 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,640 So I'd rather my kid do OK and every other kid gets screwed 540 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:50,480 over. OK, so now it's a competition in 541 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,600 schools. All right, openness. 542 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,640 Are you willing to learn from your mistakes? 543 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,280 And the answer's no because if I'm in a straight and I say to 544 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,680 parents, I'm sorry, I made a mistake today, the parents will 545 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,280 be like, you're fired. Get out of here. 546 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,960 You're incompetent. OK, so you could be like the 547 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,159 best person in the world, but if you make a make a mistake, the 548 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:15,080 parents will come and kill you. But if you, you but you could be 549 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:16,880 the worst person in the world, but you just hide in your 550 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:18,159 office. The parents can't find you. 551 00:34:18,199 --> 00:34:20,800 You're OK. OK, so school administrators are 552 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:25,800 are now are now afraid to admit they're wrong, which means that 553 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,120 a school can never improve, right? 554 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,560 And they have energy, which is like, you know what, if I do a 555 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,639 good job, parents will want me to do a better job. 556 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,600 I can't please all the parents. So I'll just hide my office, do 557 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:45,760 as little work as possible. And then if parents complain, 558 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,000 I'll just shut off my brain. OK. 559 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:54,840 And this is happening because of wolf generation. 1980s China was 560 00:34:54,880 --> 00:35:00,360 really poor. And the only way to get to to 561 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:02,320 lead a better life is through education. 562 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,960 That's why students work hard. If students work hard, teachers 563 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,440 are motivated to teach well. And now you having a time when 564 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,760 you know today in 202526 when parents have money. 565 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,920 So it doesn't matter if you don't do it on school because 566 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,560 your parents can just give an apartment can buy you a car. 567 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:26,360 Who cares if you do it on school. 568 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,760 So you're not motivated if you're not motivated, 569 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:33,320 indifferent, then as a teacher, why am I going to want to teach? 570 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,960 Well, OK, so it's a superstructure of society. 571 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,240 OK. Does that does that make sense? 572 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:45,000 All right, any more questions? OK, OK, so so thank you. 573 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:53,600 OK. So again, a superstructure 574 00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:57,320 determines the motivations of the players, and where the 575 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,480 interests of the players converge is the game that you 576 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,160 have, OK? All right, so you go back to 577 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:11,520 this list, and what we're seeing is parents just want white 578 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,800 faces, OK? Sorry, white faces. 579 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:23,040 And they want successful kids, which means good grades, OK 580 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,400 Parents, teachers just want to get by and do as little work as 581 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,000 possible. The administrators just want to 582 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,320 protect relationship with parents, OK. 583 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,440 And so when you do this convergence, this is this is 584 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:42,480 what the schools look like now, OK, Schools in China, in 585 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:43,600 national schools in China, by the way. 586 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,960 And again, this is like the majority. 587 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:47,320 I'm not saying it's every school, but I'm saying it's a 588 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,200 majority, OK? What you have are white faces, 589 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,840 easy grades, right? It's really easy to get a good 590 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:05,040 grade, all right, Some top students, these students are 591 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,000 given scholarships and then they're sent to top 592 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:14,120 universities, OK. Then you have lots of cheating, 593 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:24,480 OK, and high turnover where students leave, teachers leave, 594 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,480 but new ones come in. So who cares, OK. 595 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,080 And this is what it looks like. This this what happens when you 596 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,040 take the interests of these different players. 597 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,920 You can verse them together. And this is what what schools 598 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,280 look like today. Just lots of white faces, lots 599 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:44,160 of really nice buildings, lots of fence activities, great 600 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:49,640 marketing, beautiful website, really motivate admissions 601 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,240 officers. Then you have easy grades where 602 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:54,760 everyone gets an A no matter what you do. 603 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,800 You have some top students who will get into a good school so 604 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,000 that the the school can brag about them. 605 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000 You have lots of cheating going on. 606 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,120 OK, You don't get a good grade. Just complain and you get a good 607 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,760 grade. OK, so that happened to me at 608 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:17,200 the school where I tried my first year to give fair grades. 609 00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:19,200 OK? A fair grade is not like I, I 610 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:20,600 give you a 20, I give you like an 80. 611 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,560 And students complain about me. So now so I'm stuck giving them 612 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:28,880 like a pass fail, right? So it's not hard for students to 613 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,280 get to pass. If you don't like a teacher, 614 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,600 just complain. And then the teacher has to 615 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,120 change. And so you now you have high 616 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:39,560 turnover where teachers feel stressed out and where parents 617 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,600 are never happy and where students don't care. 618 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:50,760 OK, doesn't make sense. This is why schools suck. 619 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:55,880 And I'm, I'm, I'm saying they suck not just in China, not just 620 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:59,520 in our schools, but in most places around the world. 621 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:02,400 And it has to do with the superstructure society. 622 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:08,120 OK, but what? But I, I mean, like the point of 623 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,680 today's class is not like schools suck, don't go to 624 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:12,880 school. The point of today's class is 625 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:17,760 we're trying to analyze why schools are the way they are. 626 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:23,040 And one way to analyze it is by figuring out what at what point, 627 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:28,080 OK, do the different players converge, right? 628 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,520 So think of you have different sets, right? 629 00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:45,800 Parents, teachers, students, government, colleges, OK. 630 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,000 And their convergence point is the game they play. 631 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:56,000 Now, what's important for us to understand is that there is 632 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,960 actually a lot of room to this convergence point. 633 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:05,600 So it's possible to do reform, but only within a subset of. 634 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:14,960 Of this convergence point. OK, so my problem is back in 635 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,680 2008, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna set up a new universe, 636 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,960 my own world. I'll make up the rules, I'll be 637 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:25,200 gone. And you just have to play the 638 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:26,840 game. I tell you to play the game, OK? 639 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:30,560 And that's why everyone is like, you're an asshole, OK? 640 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,600 Whatever you do, whatever game you set up has to be within this 641 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:38,800 convergence point in order for players to accept it, OK? 642 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,000 And this is true for everything. If you want to implement POCO 643 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,920 reform anywhere, you have to figure out where the different 644 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:49,120 stakeholders converge and figure out how to move the stakeholders 645 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:54,080 from one part of the convergence point to another part of the 646 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:57,080 convergence point. OK, This slow incremental 647 00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,640 reform. OK, Does that make sense? 648 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:10,000 OK, any questions before I I conclude, Guys, ask questions. 649 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:14,600 What was this clear? Yeah, you have a question? 650 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,880 So in the future, will we learn more about how do we find out 651 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:28,240 what causes different stakeholders to have different 652 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:30,840 interests? Like in the future, it's like, 653 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:32,160 not really. OK. 654 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:33,320 Yeah. That's a really good question. 655 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:34,280 So. So thank you for asking. 656 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,600 OK. All right. 657 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:47,280 So the question is where do the interests of these different 658 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,400 players come from? OK. 659 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:56,840 And I mean, the easy answer is the superstructure of society, 660 00:41:57,600 --> 00:41:59,320 OK, People are responding to their culture. 661 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:04,040 But in game theory, what I want to teach you is that it's 662 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,320 because they themselves are playing different games, OK? 663 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:15,080 So let's look at parents, OK? Parents have different 664 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:20,200 identities. They are family, They are 665 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:25,600 colleagues, OK. And depending on on their 666 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,920 identity, they're playing a different game. 667 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,840 All right, So what does family mean? 668 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,880 Family means that you might have brothers, right? 669 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:39,560 Brothers. What do brothers do? 670 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:41,920 They compete against each other, right? 671 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:44,400 You have three brothers. You want to prove that you're 672 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:45,920 better than your brother? How? 673 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:50,080 Well, by having more money, by having better kids, by having a 674 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,280 more beautiful wife. OK, That's a game they're 675 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,800 playing, right? But then you have colleagues. 676 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:03,840 You have colleagues and the game you're trying to play there is 677 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:05,960 you got a longer colleagues because that that's what ensures 678 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:08,920 your success in life. OK, so you need to make sure 679 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:14,320 that your child, no matter how he or she is educated, is able 680 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,920 to become friends with the sons and daughters of your 681 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:22,840 colleagues, OK? So because that's this is what 682 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,240 ensures success. All right. 683 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:27,480 And so there are other games as well, but but you understand 684 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,680 this, right? You understand how parents, the 685 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:33,160 calculation isn't just like my kid, I want my kid to be 686 00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:34,880 successful. No, no, you're thinking about 687 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,600 how to play different games and be successful in other games, 688 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,920 right? Because if you if your kid being 689 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:48,280 very successful, but not in a way that pleases the colleagues 690 00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:52,280 you become, it can be for another game, OK, The people 691 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,000 that the thing that people fear the most is the idea of 692 00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:05,320 authorization or basically just exile where you are no more part 693 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,520 of the group. They kick you out as a player, 694 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:10,200 OK? That's what people are afraid 695 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,200 of. And that's why people are 696 00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:15,560 motivated by what they do, because they're trying to, 697 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:20,200 they're trying as hard as possible to play the game and 698 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,640 get along with other players while at the same time competing 699 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,160 against them. So it's a weird psychology, OK? 700 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,080 You're trying to beat them at the same time. 701 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:32,200 You don't want to piss them off and get thrown on the game, OK? 702 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:35,560 And this is what prevents the idea of cheating. 703 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:43,840 But from the perspective of the game, if you do anything 704 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,360 different, that's still cheating, OK? 705 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:53,360 Because so another way of saying this is a lot of the rebellion 706 00:44:53,600 --> 00:45:00,480 against what I was doing as a reformer is I was subverting 707 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:07,640 traditional Chinese values, OK? I was arguing against the norms, 708 00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:11,480 the values, the conventions of this country. 709 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,920 And it's. And so if people believed in me, 710 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:20,480 then they risk themselves being ostracized by the larger 711 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,560 community. OK, Does that make sense? 712 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:34,360 All right, so that's parents then you have right. 713 00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:35,560 OK. But students, right. 714 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:40,880 So students, they're trying to play a game where they do all in 715 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,440 school because that ensures a good outcome. 716 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,600 But at the same time, students play other games as well. 717 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:47,880 So for, for example, a friendship game, right, where 718 00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:49,760 you're trying to have as many friends as possible, you're 719 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:51,760 trying to be popular in school. That's another game you play. 720 00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:55,080 You're also trying to please your parents, right? 721 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:57,240 Because by pleasing your parents, that ensures that you 722 00:45:57,240 --> 00:46:01,680 have an easy, comfortable life. In fact, you could argue that 723 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,240 all these three games, pleasing your parents is the most 724 00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:09,960 important, Then comes having good friends because that will 725 00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:12,640 also ensure success in life. And the game that you care the 726 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:15,640 least about, that matters the least, is actually doing well in 727 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:18,280 school, learning, learning in school. 728 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:25,760 OK, does that make sense? So game theory, it sounds easy, 729 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,720 but it's very, very complicated because we're complicated 730 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:32,800 individuals. Each one of us has different 731 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:36,600 identities, has different motivations and has different 732 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:38,280 outlooks. And, and also what's really 733 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:40,920 important for us to understand is we're always changing as 734 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:43,320 people, OK? So the way that you behaved in 735 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,200 kindergarten is not the way you behave today in high school. 736 00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:48,520 It will not be the way you behave when you enter society. 737 00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:51,480 You're always changing because the games are always changing. 738 00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:55,400 You must adapt to new games that have different players and have 739 00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:58,120 new requirements. OK, So that's wonderful about 740 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:03,400 us, where we are easily adaptable, where we are, we are 741 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:12,360 resilient, OK, But we are always changing according to the game 742 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:18,640 and and we are who we are is often determined by the nature 743 00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:22,320 of the game. OK, so you're going to come into 744 00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:27,560 school wanting to learn, being creative and all that, but 745 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,000 eventually you recognize that that's everything we've warded 746 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,760 in school. All right, getting along, having 747 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:38,680 lots of friends doing, helping other students cheat, that's 748 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:40,880 rewarded. And so you adapt to the game, 749 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:44,240 and that's why you behave the way you do, OK. 750 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,080 And if you actually go back and think about everything that you 751 00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:52,160 did in school, the answer is you're responding to a certain 752 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:57,520 incentive or rule of the game, OK? 753 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,160 And that's what you need to. That's what we need to 754 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:06,480 understand about game theory. Game theory. 755 00:48:06,720 --> 00:48:10,000 It's not about ideas, it's not about ideals. 756 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:11,840 It's not the way things should be. 757 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,320 It's the way things are. And the way things are are 758 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:19,120 determined by who players are and the way players behave. 759 00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:23,200 It's a response to their the game they believe they're 760 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:24,560 playing. Great. 761 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:27,280 Does that make sense? OK, so so thank you. 762 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:33,760 And any more questions? OK, great. 763 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:37,280 So we'll continue this next class.