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Recruit a few thousand 30+ year olds.
Make them all solve the same test that high schoolers get for graduation.
See how many percent they can get on it. How much they can remember from their "education", truly.
Repeat for secondary school for additional laughs.
I think it would kill the school myth if it was done. Because I suspect it would turn out, that people remember less than 10% of the stuff.
I tried to check if it was, by typing "can 30 year olds solve the high school test" on both DDG and semanticscholar. Nothing came up, so I assume no one bothered to test it.
It would be so embarrassing. Maybe that's why it isn't done.

Can't find any either but I'm not sure whether a need exists for such a study, it's well known people forget over 90% of things they learn after just a few days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve

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LoadingXML wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 5:30 pm Agreeing with qualia here, this study, assuming it exists and it has the expected results of old people not being able to solve high school or below tests, how does that prove the education system bad?

Well, it would break one of the justifications for the schooling system. See here for example:

There are many assumptions of compulsory education. One is that young people need to know, understand, and be able to do certain things that they most likely would not if they were left to their own devices. What these things are and how best to ensure students learn them are complicated and often controversial issues. Another assumption is that compulsory education is a preparation for what will come afterward, like getting a good job or going on to higher education.

I'm not sure how much the memory curve applies universally. I remember a lot of stuff even from childhood, just almost none of the school stuff. I'd like to see it studied directly anyway. Somehow I feel like the way school teaches things is particularly nonconductive to long term memorization.

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digdeeper wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 9:56 am Recruit a few thousand 30+ year olds.
Make them all solve the same test that high schoolers get for graduation.
See how many percent they can get on it. How much they can remember from their "education", truly.
Repeat for secondary school for additional laughs.
I think it would kill the school myth if it was done. Because I suspect it would turn out, that people remember less than 10% of the stuff.
I tried to check if it was, by typing "can 30 year olds solve the high school test" on both DDG and semanticscholar. Nothing came up, so I assume no one bothered to test it.
It would be so embarrassing. Maybe that's why it isn't done.

People like me were in class just for the sake of banter and fiddling around with friends, the "teachers" never cared either and we memorised everything we needed a hour before our tests
It's still recomended to finish high school because in my country--and I believe this also applies to most of the world--you need to finish high school and get graduated so you're given that useless piece of paper "diploma" to get a proper job

mia wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 3:10 am It's still recomended to finish high school because in my country--and I believe this also applies to most of the world--you need to finish high school and get graduated so you're given that useless piece of paper "diploma" to get a proper job

Your country must be pretty good if you can find a "proper job" with a high school diploma, because everywhere else It's more like it's hard to find a proper (or any) job even with a college/university degree, and it becomes even more so with each passing day... The thing that matters the most for getting a job is being a narcissistic hypersocialized faggot with connections and/or willing to go through countless humiliation rituals.

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moeloli wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2026 8:08 am

mia wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 3:10 am It's still recomended to finish high school because in my country--and I believe this also applies to most of the world--you need to finish high school and get graduated so you're given that useless piece of paper "diploma" to get a proper job

Your country must be pretty good if you can find a "proper job" with a high school diploma, because everywhere else It's more like it's hard to find a proper (or any) job even with a college/university degree, and it becomes even more so with each passing day... The thing that matters the most for getting a job is being a narcissistic hypersocialized faggot with connections and/or willing to go through countless humiliation rituals.

You need at least a high school diploma, although the high school diploma won't automatically grant you a job

EDIT: made the text clearer

I remember that some time ago we had this talk show that did something similar, but for different reasons. Basically every week they would invite one politician and ask him or her from 3 to 5 elementary school questions. I forget which grade. I thing they stared with 8th, but had to lower it down to 6th, because it proved to be a bit to challenging.

Most of them answered everything wrong. On average they could maybe get one answer half-correct. However there was this one lady politician that got almost all of them right (something like 2.5 out of 3 if my memory serves me correctly). My guess is because she was relatively young, so her memory was still “fresh” from school days. Regardless, by show’s standards she was considered a super genius.

Anyway, they eventually dropped this segment of the show. Probably because both the show runners and participants realized the situation is hopeless and too embarrassing.

mocheryl wrote: Sun May 31, 2026 7:33 pm I remember that some time ago we had this talk show that did something similar, but for different reasons. Basically every week they would invite one politician and ask him or her from 3 to 5 elementary school questions. I forget which grade. I thing they stared with 8th, but had to lower it down to 6th, because it proved to be a bit to challenging.

Most of them answered everything wrong. On average they could maybe get one answer half-correct. However there was this one lady politician that got almost all of them right (something like 2.5 out of 3 if my memory serves me correctly). My guess is because she was relatively young, so her memory was still “fresh” from school days. Regardless, by show’s standards she was considered a super genius.

Anyway, they eventually dropped this segment of the show. Probably because both the show runners and participants realized the situation is hopeless and too embarrassing.

Very interesting. About what I expected.

Do you maybe recall the name of the program? I feel like this should be publicized more.

Politicians are just retards, I remember some MPs here being asked basic questions about the functioning of the government (who represents the legislative branch, how many MPs are there in the parliament etc.) and getting them wrong too

digdeeper wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 8:48 pm

mocheryl wrote: Sun May 31, 2026 7:33 pm I remember that some time ago we had this talk show that did something similar, but for different reasons. Basically every week they would invite one politician and ask him or her from 3 to 5 elementary school questions. I forget which grade. I thing they stared with 8th, but had to lower it down to 6th, because it proved to be a bit to challenging.

Most of them answered everything wrong. On average they could maybe get one answer half-correct. However there was this one lady politician that got almost all of them right (something like 2.5 out of 3 if my memory serves me correctly). My guess is because she was relatively young, so her memory was still “fresh” from school days. Regardless, by show’s standards she was considered a super genius.

Anyway, they eventually dropped this segment of the show. Probably because both the show runners and participants realized the situation is hopeless and too embarrassing.

Very interesting. About what I expected.

Do you maybe recall the name of the program? I feel like this should be publicized more.

The show was called hri-bar, hosted by Sašo Hribar - a famous radio person. He passed away some time ago. The show ran for several years on Slovenian national TV, but that was 15 – 20 years ago. Good luck finding any recordings of it. Especially of this particular segment as it was part of the show for maybe one season.

qualia wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 7:22 am Politicians are just retards, I remember some MPs here being asked basic questions about the functioning of the government (who represents the legislative branch, how many MPs are there in the parliament etc.) and getting them wrong too

That goes without saying. After all, they’re politicians. Otherwise they would be in a real job. The point is that some people idolize them. They consider them as some kind of deities that are going to bring the society into a land of milk and honey. Then they go on a show like the aforementioned one and end up looking like bumbling idiots when unsuccessfully trying to explain some fact about geography or an event of a poet who drank himself to death 200 years ago. And that’s what the intention was: To show us they’re nothing but flesh and blood just like the rest of us. The comments the host made during the interviews were quite enlightening. "How come you make us [elementary school children] memorize all this stuff when even you yourself don’t know it?".

Not long ago I read some article where they were writing about how journalists asked politicians to explain the difference between menstruation and ovulation. It quickly reminded me of that show because the feedback was the same. Basically, ignorance and bullshitting their way out of giving a real answer. Except this is worse, because this time they weren’t discussing boring school stuff, but fundamental biological processes.

Think I found something close to what I wanted: https://morty.digdeeper.rodeo/post?mort ... 101659.htm

Top graded students lose 60% of their knowledge after 3 months break before uni...

I'd like to read the full version but tandfonline and scihub block me.