iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 14h

the literacy crisis in this country is out of control

I can recall meeting older scholars, long ago, who said that when they were young they had a hard time getting their hands on a copy of Shiji or Han shu. If they were lucky enough to get one, they thought nothing of copying the entire text out by hand, so they could recite it day and night. In recent years merchants engrave and print all manner of books belonging to the hundred schools, and produce ten thousand pages a day. With books so readily available, you would think that students' writing and scholarship would be many times better than what they were in earlier generations. Yet, to the contrary, young men and examination candidates leave their books tied shut and never look at them, preferring to amuse themselves with baseless chatter. Why is this?

2:06 AM · Oct 7, 2026

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 14h

by this country I mean the Song Empire

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boo ming @wu-ming.bsky.social · 12h

↪ Replying to @spavel.bsky.social

OK but those song guys' degree of literacy was absolutely bananas. it's humbling even reading them talking about it.

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Cook Ting @cookting.bsky.social · 12h

↪ Replying to @spavel.bsky.social

I was astounded in 1st yr undergrad meeting peers who only came to class bc their parents gave them a BMW (3 series) on condition they attend class; meanwhile I was taking on OSAP student debt to attend lectures. Why study? To fit in? To become employable? To meet expectations? Or to study & learn?

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