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Game Theory #2: Why Schools Suck — Transcript

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0:00Okay, so welcome back to game theory and
0:03um as I discussed last class, our goal
0:07is able to is to use game theory to
0:09analyze global events to understand why
0:12they're happening as well as make
0:14certain predictions about how they
0:15should develop. But to do that, I first
0:18need to train your mind and how to and
0:21how to see the world using game theory.
0:23So last class in our first class we
0:26discussed example of the dating game of
0:28why men and women are motivated to
0:32behave the the way they do when they
0:36look for a mate. Today I want I want to
0:39discuss the issue of school. Okay,
0:41school.
0:45So uh for the first few classes I'm
0:47going to use examples from your life
0:49that you know pretty well in order to
0:52develop the mindset for the game theory.
0:54So uh school is something that you
0:56should know very very well. As you know
0:58the purpose of school is to train you in
1:02a way that allows you to be functional
1:05in society as well as to be creative.
1:08Right? Okay. So the goals are basically
1:11literacy.
1:13All right. which means reading and
1:15writing.
1:17This is the primary purpose of school
1:20because in order to function in our
1:22society, you need to be able to absorb
1:25information and convey information.
1:29Okay. Number two
1:32is basically
1:34uh what we call the core competent core
1:36competencies.
1:40Okay, these are skills that you need to
1:41be successful in life including the
1:43ability ability to think critically to
1:47cooperate with others
1:49to coll to collaborate to communicate.
1:51Okay, you you you all know this. The
1:55last thing is what we call
1:57lifelong learning.
2:00So in an age of AI,
2:03in age of globalization,
2:06school
2:08is just a start of the learning process
2:10because every 5 years the world changes.
2:13So you need to be in a constant process,
2:15a constant state of learning. Okay? So
2:19you have to like actually love learning
2:22and you have to like know how to learn
2:24for yourself. So these these are the
2:26three basic purposes of school. and
2:30that's why you're at the school.
2:32Unfortunately, what we know is that most
2:35schools, I'm not saying all schools, I'm
2:37saying that most schools are pretty bad
2:40at these three things. In fact, you can
2:43make the argument that most schools not
2:47only do not teach you these skills, but
2:50they have the opposite effect. In fact,
2:53they make you hate learning. Okay, so
2:55let's look at literacy.
2:58Today in most schools you're not
3:00required to read books.
3:03In fact when you go to university
3:05the professors there are so shocked that
3:07you don't read books that instead they
3:10make you read paragraphs
3:12or watch videos. Okay. So in terms of
3:15literacy
3:17around the world
3:20people are losing the capacity to read
3:23and to write.
3:26And not only that, but people's
3:27attention spans have decreased. It's
3:30very hard for a professor to give you an
3:33hour lecture.
3:35People lose focus after about 5 minutes.
3:38Okay? So this is one problem. Another
3:41problem is
3:43school is supposed to teach you
3:45creativity, critical thinking skills,
3:47collaboration, but it doesn't do that.
3:49Look at collaboration. In school, it's a
3:51competition where you believe that it's
3:55a zero- sum game. So, for you to get
3:57ahead, you need to screw over your
3:59classmate.
4:02So, class ranking is very important. So,
4:04that's kind of odd.
4:06Okay. And the last thing, of course, is
4:08lifelong learning where school teaches
4:11you to hate school and therefore teaches
4:15you how to hate learning, especially in
4:18China. Okay? Especially in China where
4:21you work hard until the national
4:23entrance examination at age 18. And then
4:26after the exam examination ends, what do
4:28you do? You burn your books. That's the
4:30great ceremony here in China. Right
4:32after the examination, you take your
4:33books, you rip out the pages, and you
4:35throw it in the sky to to signal your
4:37liberation, your liberation. And you're
4:39like, I never ever want to read a book
4:41again. I never ever want to take a test
4:43again. I never want to learn again.
4:45Okay. So
4:49around the world, most schools, not all
4:51schools, there are there are some really
4:53good schools out there, but most schools
4:56are failing in their mission. School
4:58sucks. And so the question for us today
5:01is
5:03why is this the case? And so we're going
5:06to use game theory to analyze why this
5:09is the case. All right. [snorts]
5:12So
5:15what I'm going to do now is I'm going to
5:17tell you a story about myself. So the
5:19year is 2008.
5:22I went to Yale College, okay, in the
5:25United States and I was English major. I
5:27did very well in school. So I was hired
5:30in 2008 to go to Shinjzhin in South
5:33China and help the school Shin Middle
5:36School build a national program to send
5:40kids abroad. Okay. Right. So this 2008
5:43which was a long time ago and back then
5:44not not that many students wanted to go
5:46abroad. There were really few
5:47international schools. So the first
5:49thing I did was I looked at the
5:52situation at the school. Okay. And this
5:54and this this this what I found.
5:56Okay.
5:58I found that students
6:01even though they were going abroad maybe
6:02about 10% of the students were planning
6:05to go abroad. So so that's about 80
6:07students uh each year. That's a lot.
6:10[snorts] But the way they were going
6:12about the process of studying abroad was
6:14problematic. Okay. So first of all, all
6:16they were doing was taking regular
6:17Chinese classes
6:19[snorts]
6:21and you know in Chinese classes all you
6:22do is you sit in a room of 50 kids and
6:25you take notes and you take tests, you
6:27don't communicate, you don't ask
6:28questions, you don't debate. Okay, so
6:31that's one problem. Another problem is
6:34that the students were spending all
6:35their time memorizing SAT word list.
6:40Okay, they were not reading, they were
6:42not writing,
6:44they were just memorizing words.
6:48And the other thing that they did to
6:50make their applications look good is
6:54model United Nations. Okay,
6:58and that's fine. Maybe some of you are
7:00modeling United Nations and that's a
7:01great activity but everyone was doing
7:04it. There was absolutely no
7:06differentiation.
7:08All right. So I looked at the situation.
7:10I said no I mean you might be able to
7:13get into a good American university
7:15because you know these kids are very
7:18smart but I wanted to them do well at
7:21the university and to do well in life.
7:23Okay. So I made certain changes to the
7:26curriculum and to the school. Okay. So
7:28first thing I did was I set up a seminar
7:31system.
7:33So rather than in Chinese classes, I
7:34invited these American teachers to come
7:37and teach seminars like we have at the
7:39school where 10 20 kids are in a room
7:42and they discuss books that they read
7:45together. Okay. Um rather than SAT word
7:50memorization, I had them read books.
7:54Students were required to read a lot of
7:56books. In fact, I established a 5,000
7:59book English library at the school where
8:01students can just go and borrow books
8:03and read. I wanted to teach students the
8:06joy of reading.
8:09Um, and then in terms of activities, I
8:11didn't want students to do M United
8:12Nations anymore because I didn't want
8:13kids sitting around just talking. I
8:15wanted to let them do things. Okay. So,
8:17I set up two new new activities. The
8:19first is called the coffee house.
8:21And the coffee house is is the first
8:24coffee house in China in a Chinese high
8:27school. There are lots of coffee houses
8:28today, but I was the first person to set
8:31up a coffee house where students had to
8:34run a business. They had to work as
8:37waiters and provide good service to
8:40customers. And it was it was a
8:41collaboration effort. As you can
8:42imagine, this is great for the students
8:44to learn collaboration, to learn
8:47finance, to learn entrepreneurship.
8:49Okay. So, that was a very successful
8:50activity.
8:52Uh, do you have a question?
8:54>> Yeah.
8:55>> Okay.
9:00>> I mean, was that like similar with our
9:02moon coffee like the coffee in the west
9:05south store?
9:06>> Okay. Um, 2008 I was the first person to
9:10do anything. Okay.
9:11>> Oh, okay.
9:12>> Okay. Just I mean like like
9:14>> similar.
9:15>> Yeah. [clears throat] All right. So the
9:16coffee house was an activity I set up
9:18which was very successful. It's still
9:20there today guys. If you go to middle
9:22school you will see the coffee house
9:23still there a long long time after I I
9:25went away. The other thing I did was
9:27something called the daily newspaper.
9:29[snorts] And this was the first daily
9:32newspaper in China in a high school and
9:35probably maybe even around the world
9:37where students every day had to report,
9:40collect information, write articles,
9:43edit and publish it and they worked
9:44until like midnight. sometimes until 2
9:46am and then at 7 am they had to get up
9:49and um deliver the newspaper to all the
9:52students and these were two very
9:53successful activities [snorts] and
9:57um so I understand game theoriz says
9:59okay if you want to make this transition
10:02from the old system to new system you
10:05also have to establish a new culture
10:08to allow these activities to flourish
10:11okay and so my three major principles
10:14for
10:16um transparency,
10:22um innovation,
10:28okay, transparency,
10:30um innovation,
10:33openness.
10:35[snorts]
10:36And so my idea was this. Rather than sub
10:39a
10:41curriculum that was perfect, it would be
10:44a curriculum that would evolve over
10:47time. We would learn mistakes together.
10:51We would admit these mistakes and then
10:54we would correct them together and
10:55that's what learning is. Okay. Okay. So
10:58the idea of transparency [snorts] also I
11:01made changes all the time which created
11:05some chaos but it's a time for us to
11:07reflect and to be resilient. And I was
11:11very open and honest about everything
11:14that I was doing. And this in and so
11:16this system in a very short amount of
11:18time even though it there were a lot of
11:20problems in the beginning it became a
11:22very effective system after a semester
11:26or a year. And not only that the
11:29students who went for this program did
11:31very well in life. They went to Yale.
11:33They went to they went to Wharton
11:34Cornell and this program actually school
11:38became the most famous program in South
11:42China and when our students have the
11:45best record of college admissions
11:49in South China. Okay.
11:53So this sounds great, right? Okay. The
11:55problem is this. The problem is what
11:58happened after I established the
12:00program. The first one that happened
12:01was, okay, I was fired.
12:07They said, "Get out of here." Okay.
12:10Second of all,
12:12the teachers, the parents, the students
12:16were all happy to see me go. They were
12:19like, "Get out of here. We never want to
12:20see you again." The third thing that
12:23happened was
12:25I did come to a new program that was
12:27very similar to this. Okay. But after
12:30that, after four years of doing this and
12:32being very successful at this, I was
12:34never allowed to set up another program
12:37again. No one wanted me to work in
12:39management again.
12:41Okay? So even though I was successful,
12:43even though I worked really hard, even
12:45though I was innovative, even though I
12:48set up really the best study abroad
12:49program in all of China, I was the
12:52first. Everyone else copied me
12:53afterwards. I was fired. No one wanted
12:57me to stay and I was not allowed to do
13:00this ever again. Why? Okay. Well, the
13:04reason is this.
13:06When I was doing this,
13:09the word that everyone used to describe
13:11me was not reformer, not visionary, not
13:16idealist, not dreamer, but dictator.
13:22Okay.
13:24One other word that they used that was
13:27that was more common was this guy's an
13:30Okay, this guy's a complete
13:34Why? Because I insisted on fairness.
13:40Okay, I don't care who you are. I don't
13:43care who your parents are. I want you to
13:49work hard and learn. And as you can
13:52imagine, that pissed off a lot of
13:54powerful people because that's not how
13:56the game is played in China. Okay? It's
13:58actually not the game how this game is
13:59played anywhere in the world. The game
14:01is not fair. The game is established by
14:04stakeholders and they play the game
14:07according to their interest.
14:10Okay. So, um let's go over what
14:14happened. All right. [snorts]
14:17Okay. So Mike, I understand that there
14:20are stakeholders
14:24and the stakeholders in game theory are
14:26just the players.
14:31Okay, the players. And who are [snorts]
14:33the players? Well, you have the
14:34students,
14:39you have the parents,
14:42you have the
14:45um teachers,
14:48you have [snorts] the administrators,
14:52okay, the school leaders,
14:55you have the government,
14:58okay, and then you have the colleges,
15:01okay? The college are the US colleges
15:03where I'm trying to send my students.
15:04Okay? So these are the players in the
15:06game. And if you want to understand game
15:08theory, you need you need to understand
15:10the motivations
15:12and interests of all the different
15:13players that tells you why or how they
15:17will behave the way they do. Okay. So
15:18look, so here is my original
15:21understanding of the players which was
15:23clearly wrong. Okay. Because I got
15:24fired. All right. So the students the
15:27students wanted like love to learn
15:32get into Ivy League
15:37and be the best. Okay. So I thought the
15:41students what their motivation was to be
15:43the best possible person to work hard to
15:47love learning to be famous to get an Ivy
15:49League. Okay. Clearly this is wrong.
15:51Okay. I'm saying back then what my
15:53thinking was the parents well the
15:55parents wanted successful kids
15:59who were independent
16:04okay independent and they wanted phase
16:07right so they want their kids to get
16:09into the Ivy League
16:12right teachers well teachers
16:16wanted to do a good job Right?
16:22They want to teach students. They love
16:26teaching. They love students. They just
16:28want to be given the space and the
16:29opportunity to teach what their passion
16:32is. Okay.
16:34Administrators. Administrators. I really
16:37didn't like administrators. So, I just
16:39thought they were just they wanted good
16:41results. Okay. That's all. Good results.
16:43As long as prov as long as I provide
16:45good results, they're happy. Okay. the
16:47government, they wanted innovation,
16:50they wanted good workers.
16:57Um, they wanted, you know, they want
16:59technology, okay? They want a strong
17:02China.
17:05Colleges wanted the best
17:08possible
17:10potential.
17:12Okay? They wanted students who will be
17:15the leaders of the future. Okay? So 2008
17:18when I set up the program, this was my
17:20assumptions about who the players were
17:22and what motivated them. Okay, clearly
17:26clearly I was wrong about who they were.
17:30Okay, so let's go over again. Let's now
17:33do an anal analysis of what they really
17:35really want. Okay. And the um easy
17:41answer is that in game theory all the
17:44players what they're motivated in is by
17:47achieving the best possible results by
17:50doing the least amount of work possible.
17:55Okay, just remember that that's a
17:56principle here. Everyone wants to
17:58achieve the best results by doing the
18:01least amount of work possible. People
18:04are lazy and people are greedy. It's
18:06that simple, guys. Okay, so students,
18:10they want to get in the Ivy League, but
18:12they didn't want to work hard to get in
18:14the Ivy League. They wanted to do as
18:16little work as possible. And if it meant
18:20they had to uh work hard to get Ivy
18:24League, they they like, I don't want to
18:25get in the Ivy League then. I'll just
18:26get into another school because who
18:28cares? Okay, the best possible result,
18:30least possible work. Parents are like,
18:33"Yeah, I can have my kid work hard, but
18:35what's important is for me to control my
18:37kid, right? For to make to because only
18:41I know how to ensure my kid succeeds.
18:43So, I need to I don't want my kids to
18:45think critically or or be independent. I
18:48want my kids to obey me." Now, teachers
18:51are like, "Listen, this is a job, man."
18:54Okay? I have kids. I don't want to work
18:56hard. I just want to come to school, do
18:59what I'm supposed to do, do what is
19:01minimally required me to collect my
19:02salary and then go home. I don't want to
19:05teach my passion because I don't have
19:06any passion.
19:08Okay, administrators are like, "Oh my
19:10god, what's important is for me to make
19:13sure the powerful parents are happy. I
19:16don't care about everyone else. I don't
19:17care about poor parents. I don't care
19:20about middle- class parents. As long as
19:22the parents who are powerful are happy,
19:25I keep my I can keep my job, right? The
19:28government is like, you know what? I
19:31don't want innovation in this country.
19:32Even though I say I want I want it
19:34because I don't want problems in life,
19:36okay? I just want things to just stay
19:38the way they are and everyone's happy.
19:42Okay? So now we understand what
19:45happened. All right. All right. So now
19:48what I will show you is this. I will
19:51show you how a game is constructed. A
19:53game is constructed when all the
19:55different players agree on the rules and
19:58incentives of the game.
20:01All right, I was an outsider. I was not
20:04a player. I came in to construct a game
20:06in which I felt that students would
20:08thrive and they did thrive. But that's
20:10not what they want. Okay? They wanted to
20:12have control over the game. And if they
20:15lose control, well, they call you an
20:18they call you the outsider
20:20an Okay. All right. So, let's
20:24do this again.
20:26And objectively think about
20:29what the interests and motivations of
20:32each player are. And when their
20:34interests converge, that's the game they
20:36play. All right? So you have students,
20:41parents,
20:44uh teachers,
20:48uh leaders, school administrators
20:52and then the colleges.
20:55Okay.
20:57Another thing that you have to do in
20:58game theory that's very important is you
21:00have to rank the power of uh power of
21:04each player. Uh you have a question.
21:07government.
21:08>> Excuse me.
21:09>> The government. Yes. Sorry. Uh you're
21:12you're right. I I I forgot about the
21:13government.
21:15Okay. And the government.
21:18Yeah. Another thing that that you have
21:19to do in game theory is you have to rank
21:22the importance of the players. Okay. So,
21:25not all players are equal. So, in this
21:27game theory, even though there are
21:29students and students are the majority,
21:31students actually don't matter. Okay.
21:34what students actually think and want
21:37don't actually matter. What matters of
21:39course are the parents because the
21:42parents pay
21:45to play in this game and parents can
21:46cause a lot of problems if they they
21:48don't get what they want. Okay? So the
21:49most important are the parents. Then you
21:51have the teachers. Why? Because the
21:53teachers are the ones who are
21:54implementing the rules of the game.
21:56Okay? The way that teachers behave
21:58determines how this game is played.
22:02And then these two are the most
22:05important. Okay. Then maybe you have
22:07administrators as well, but they're not
22:10as important as a parents and the
22:12teachers.
22:13The government doesn't really matter
22:15because they don't really care, right?
22:17It's one school among thousands. Who
22:20cares what the school does as long as it
22:21doesn't cause me any problems? The
22:23colleges don't care either. You they say
22:26they want really passionate students who
22:30are curious, who are match from China.
22:31They don't care. Okay? For them, it's a
22:34business. They just want students who
22:36are willing to pay money to get a crappy
22:38education in America.
22:40All right? So, the costs don't really
22:42matter. They'll take anyone who's
22:44willing to pay.
22:46And the Ivy League, yeah, everyone's
22:48getting Ivy League, but but who do the
22:50Ivy League want? They want people who
22:53want to be successful in life, right?
22:54And who are these people? Not the best
22:56students. These are people from powerful
22:58families. Okay? So, this game is rigged,
23:00right? They have all this talk about,
23:03you know, we want the best motivated
23:05students. We want PE students who are
23:07curious, we're passionate. It's all
23:08nonsense. Yeah, that's not how the game
23:09is played. So, the cards don't really
23:11matter either. [snorts] Um, okay. So,
23:13these are the three major players. The
23:15parents, the teachers, administrators,
23:17students, government, colleges, they are
23:19in this game, they don't really matter.
23:21Okay. So, now we're going to do is we'll
23:24analyze the mentality, the worldview,
23:27the interests of each player. Okay. And
23:30again once you do that once we figure
23:32out where they converge then we know how
23:34the game is constructed. All right
23:37[clears throat] so let's look at
23:38students. Students okay I mean they want
23:42to be popular
23:44right so most students come to school
23:48and actually their priority is not to
23:49learn. The priority is to make friends
23:51and to be popular among their friends.
23:54Okay that that's just human nature.
23:55That's true right? [snorts] Um then you
23:59have
24:01uh please teachers
24:04and parents. Okay, this guy this is
24:06really important to understand. You're
24:08not in school not to learn. You're in
24:10school to please parents into teachers.
24:12Why? Because parents are the ones who
24:15pay for your way in life, right? The
24:17ones who give you food. Teachers are the
24:19one who gives you grades. You're not
24:21here to learn. You're here to please
24:23them. There's a difference. Okay? And
24:25grades are a way of showing how well
24:28you're pleasing the parents and the
24:31teachers.
24:33Okay. Is that true? All right. Um and
24:37then you're like have fun.
24:41Okay. And then get a good college.
24:47Okay.
24:49All right. So, am I missing any anything
24:52among my students?
24:55All right. So, but okay. I'm sure
24:56there's more, but but let's just keep on
24:57going. Okay. Now, parents, well, the
25:00parents, what they want is, of course,
25:03successful kids.
25:05But they want successful kids not
25:07because they believe that success will
25:10make their kid happy. What they really
25:12want, of course, is face,
25:15right?
25:17>> [snorts]
25:18>> They want their kid to go to the Ivory
25:20League and they only the kid the Ivy
25:22League provides a good education or
25:24their kid will be happy at the Ivy
25:25League. They just want to brag to their
25:27relatives and their friends and their
25:28colleagues. My kid is at Brown or
25:31Cornell or Dartmouth.
25:33Okay. Um but face also means to treat
25:37education as a luxury product.
25:41Why do parents send kids to national
25:43schools? Not because national schools
25:44provide a better education. It's because
25:46international schools are more expensive
25:48and most importantly international
25:49schools have white faces, right? White
25:54faces.
25:59Okay,
26:02this is the main marketing tool of
26:05international schools, right?
26:08They have all these white faces, white
26:11teachers like, "Oh my god, this is a
26:12real national school now." You don't
26:14care if the what if the teacher actually
26:15good at what they're doing. You don't
26:17care if the kids are actually learning.
26:19You don't care what the curriculum is.
26:20You don't understand that sort of stuff.
26:21You just understand, okay, 10 white
26:22faces, therefore this is a good school.
26:25It's that simple. Okay? [snorts]
26:28And then of course you want some good
26:30outcome.
26:32Okay? You want you want a good outcome.
26:34You don't care if your kid is actually
26:36learning in school. What you want is
26:38your kid to get good grades, to get in a
26:41good college. Okay? These are not the
26:43same thing, right? So that's the
26:45parents. Then the teachers. Teachers are
26:48really simple because teachers do this
26:52job and for them the priority is to do
26:56as little work as possible to get by.
27:00Okay? I'm not saying all teachers. I'm
27:01saying the majority of teachers in the
27:03school are just trying to get by because
27:06quite honestly, they have families, they
27:09have other responsibilities. So you
27:10don't have time to focus entirely in
27:13school, okay? So basically just get by,
27:17okay? Or the minimum
27:21amount of work,
27:24okay? You may not you may not believe
27:26this, but like when you actually grow up
27:27and get a job, you'll do the same thing.
27:29Okay, just get the do a minimum amount
27:31of work in order to get by.
27:34um administrators they want good
27:36outcomes
27:38but what their real priority is to
27:40protect
27:42relationship
27:44with parents. Okay, just give parents
27:47what they want.
27:49Okay, their job is to sell the school.
27:51So, so whatever parents want, you just
27:52give it to them. And administrators
27:55also, by the way, have families. This is
27:57a job for them. They also just want to
27:59get by,
28:01okay? They're not trying to build the
28:02best school possible. They're not trying
28:04to change the world. They're not trying
28:05to educate students. They're just trying
28:06to get by, do the least amount of work
28:09in order to
28:11uh get by. Government is okay. They say
28:14they want innovation, creativity,
28:16technology, but really it's just like no
28:19problems, guys.
28:22Okay? As long as you don't care any
28:24problems for us, we're happy with you.
28:26Just stay away from us. We're happy to
28:28not bother you. Please don't come bother
28:30us. Yeah, that's government. Also, what
28:33they want is for students who will also
28:35be no problems in the future, right?
28:39Right. So, compliance. So, as long as
28:41schools are teaching you how to obey
28:45authority,
28:46how to comply,
28:49how to do what you're told, they're
28:50happy. You're a good school. Okay?
28:53Colleges again just want the money.
28:57Okay? That's all they care about. If
28:58you're willing to go to American College
29:00and pay how much how much is is it
29:02nowadays like 50,000 100,000 a year?
29:04That's a lot of money, guys. Okay. If
29:07you're willing to pay that, they'll take
29:08you. I guarantee you. Even even if you
29:11don't speak English, they'll take you.
29:14All right. Uh yeah.
29:21So, you mentioned that earlier like the
29:23the the purpose of education are that
29:25three things, but now schools don't do
29:27that. So what caused the transformation?
29:30>> Yeah, that's a really good question.
29:32when and also
29:32>> yeah okay [snorts]
29:34so what we discussed last class is the
29:37idea of superstructure right
29:42superructure
29:43sorry
29:45superructure
29:47is just the macro picture of a society
29:51it's demographics how many people are
29:53there it's economy it's politics it's
29:55religion okay and we discuss how
29:58societies are born they mature and then
30:02they die. Okay. So there's actually
30:05another way of understanding this. You
30:08can actually use three metrics to
30:10understand how societies develop. Okay.
30:13And these three metrics are cohesion,
30:17openness
30:20and energy.
30:23Okay. So what is energy? Energy just
30:26means you want to work hard.
30:29Okay. you are, you believe, you're
30:33motivated, you're driven, you work hard
30:35all the time. And working hard just
30:37doesn't mean like you work 12 hours. It
30:39just means like you're focused, you're
30:41attentive,
30:42right? So, for example, if you're
30:44working at a restaurant as a cook, you
30:47want to make a really good meal. Okay?
30:49You're energetic about it. Okay? Does
30:51that make sense? That's energy. Okay?
30:54So, um, openness just means that you
30:57want to learn, you want to grow, you're
31:00willing to admit you made a mistake and
31:03improve on yourself. Okay. And the last
31:07thing is cohesion where you are you see
31:11yourself as part of a society, part of
31:15part of a community of people and you
31:18want your community to grow as well.
31:22And when you have all three things
31:24together, the schools are great. Okay?
31:27And so, for example, go to Finland.
31:30It's a small country, maybe about 5
31:33million people, but the schools are
31:35amazing. Why? Because Finland is an
31:38energetic, open, and coy society. And
31:41when you're hear that, what you want to
31:43do is invest in the future. And what
31:46that means is you want you have to make
31:48sure that every child not just your
31:49child but every child has good future
31:52has good education. And so what you do
31:54is you have your best and brightest
31:56become teachers,
31:58right? You pay them very well. You give
32:01them high status and you give them a lot
32:03of autonom.
32:07And if you do that, the schools are
32:09great. And guess what guys? in China
32:12in maybe 1980s, the schools were amazing
32:15here. Okay,
32:18what we're seeing today is today. But if
32:20you go back to the 1980s, the schools
32:22were really good. If you went to a
32:24school in China, I'm I'm not talking
32:25about like the best. I'm just talking
32:26about like an average school, teachers
32:29felt respected.
32:31They believed that the responsibility to
32:33train the young. They took pride
32:37and joy in their work and the students
32:40enjoyed learning. And guess what? Back
32:42in 1980s, kids did less work.
32:46There were less tests, there was less
32:48pressure and they learn a lot more.
32:50Okay?
32:52So when a society be starts
32:56and begins, you have these three
32:58aspects. But over time,
33:00what happens is all three decline.
33:04Why? Because
33:07there's more corruption, there's more
33:09inequality, there's more wealth. Okay?
33:12So, what happens is wealth generation
33:16and inequality, corruption,
33:19and so people feel under stress. Okay?
33:23So, rather than cohesion, you have
33:25individualization, individual.
33:28Okay? Does that make sense? Where
33:29everyone's like, you know what? I don't
33:30care if other kids are doing well.
33:32What's important is that my kid does
33:33well because it's a zero- sum game. If
33:37if if all the other kids in the school
33:38do really well, but my kid flunks out,
33:40I'm dead. I'm screwed. So, I rather my
33:43kid do okay and every other kid gets
33:45screwed over. Okay. So, now it's a
33:47competition
33:50in schools.
33:53All right. Openness. Are you willing to
33:56learn from your mistakes? And the answer
33:58is no. Because if I'm an administrator
33:59and I say to parents, "I'm sorry. I made
34:01a mistake today." The parents will be
34:02like, "You're fired. Get out of here.
34:04You're incompetent." Okay? So, you could
34:07be like the best person in the world,
34:09but if you make make a mistake, the
34:11parents will come and kill you. But if
34:14you you but you could be the worst
34:15person in the world, but you just hide
34:16in your office. The parents can't find
34:18you. You're okay. Okay. So, school
34:20administrators are are are now afraid to
34:23admit they're wrong, which means that a
34:26school can never improve.
34:29Right? Then you have energy which is
34:31like you know what if I do a good job
34:35parents will want me to do a better job.
34:38I can't please all the parents. So I'll
34:40just hide my office do as little work as
34:42possible and then if parents complain
34:45I'll just shut off my brain. Okay. And
34:50this is happening because
34:53of wealth generation. 1980s China was
34:55really poor.
34:57And no only way to get to to lead a
35:01better life is through education. That's
35:03why students work hard. If students work
35:05hard, teachers are motivated to teach
35:07well. And now you having a time when you
35:11know today in 2025 26 when parents have
35:15money. So it doesn't matter if you don't
35:18do well in school because your parents
35:20can just give you an apartment, can buy
35:23you a car.
35:24Who cares if you do well in school? So
35:26you're not motivated. If you're not
35:28motivated, indifferent, then as a
35:30teacher, why am I going to want to
35:32teach? Well,
35:35okay. So it's a super structure of
35:36society. Okay. Does does that make
35:39sense?
35:40All right. Any more questions?
35:43Okay. Okay. So So thank you. Okay. So
35:45again
35:51um
35:52superructure determines the motivations
35:55of the players and where the interest of
35:58the players converge is the game that
36:00you have. Okay. All right. So you go
36:04back to this list and what we're seeing
36:05is
36:09parents just want white faces.
36:13Okay, sorry. white faces
36:16and they want
36:18um successful kids which means good
36:20grades.
36:22Okay. Um parents teachers just want to
36:25get by and do as little work as
36:26possible. The ministry just want to
36:29protect relationship with parents. Okay.
36:31And so when you do this convergence this
36:34this is what schools look like now.
36:38Okay.
36:40schools in China, international schools
36:42in China, by the way. And again, this is
36:44like the majority. I'm not saying it's
36:46every school, but I'm saying it's the
36:47majority. Okay? What you have are white
36:49faces,
36:53easy grades, right? It's really easy to
36:57get a good grade. All right. Um,
37:01some top students,
37:04these students are given scholarships
37:06and then they're sent to top
37:09universities.
37:11Okay. Then you have lots of cheating.
37:18Okay. And high turnover
37:21where students leave, teachers leave,
37:24but new ones come in. So, who cares?
37:27Okay. And this is what it looks like.
37:28This this what happens when you take the
37:30interests of these different players,
37:33you converge them together. And this is
37:34what what schools look like today.
37:37There's lots of white faces, lots of
37:39really nice buildings, lots of fancy
37:42activities,
37:43great marketing, beautiful website,
37:48really motivate admissions officers.
37:50Then you have easy grades where everyone
37:52gets an A no matter what you do. Um, you
37:56have some top students who will get into
37:58good school so that um the the school
38:01can brag about them. You have lots of
38:03cheating going on. Okay, if you don't
38:05get a good grade, just complain and
38:07you'll get a good grade. Okay, so that
38:10happened to me at the school where I
38:12tried my first year to give um fair
38:16grades. Okay, and a fair grade is not
38:18like I I give you a 20. I give you like
38:20an 80 and students complain about me. So
38:22now, so I'm stuck giving them like a
38:24pass fail, right? So it's not hard for
38:28students to get to pass. If you don't
38:29like a teacher, just complain and then
38:31the teacher has to change. And so you
38:34now you have high ch turnover where
38:36teachers feel stressed out and where
38:39parents are never happy and where
38:41students don't care.
38:43Okay?
38:45Doesn't make sense. This is why schools
38:50suck. And I'm I'm saying they suck not
38:53just in China, not just in our schools,
38:56but in most places around the world. And
39:00it has to do with the superstructure of
39:02society.
39:04Okay. But what but I I mean like the
39:07point of today's class is not like
39:09schools suck, don't go to school. The
39:11point of today's class is we're trying
39:13to analyze
39:15why schools are the way they are. And
39:18one way to analyze it is by figuring out
39:21what at what point, okay,
39:24do the different players converge,
39:27right?
39:29So think of you have different sets,
39:31right?
39:36Okay. Parents,
39:38teachers,
39:40[snorts]
39:42students, government,
39:44ecologist. Okay. And their convergence
39:48point is the game they play.
39:51Okay. Now, what's important for us to
39:53understand is that there is actually a
39:56lot of room to this convergence point.
39:59So it's possible to do reform but only
40:04within a subset of
40:07of this convergence point.
40:11Okay. So my problem is back in 2008 I
40:16was like you know what I'm going to set
40:17up a new universe
40:20my own world. I'll make up the rules.
40:23I'll be god and you just have to play
40:25the game. I tell you to play the game.
40:26Okay. That's why everyone is like you're
40:28an
40:30Okay, whatever you do, whatever game you
40:32set up has to be within this conversion
40:35point in order for players to accept it.
40:38Okay, and this is true for everything.
40:40If you want to implement political
40:42reform anywhere, you have to figure out
40:44where the different stakeholders
40:45converge and figure out how to move the
40:48stakeholders from one part of the
40:52convergence point to another part of the
40:54conver convergence point. Okay, this
40:55slow incremental reform.
40:58Okay, does that make sense? Okay, any
41:01questions before I I conclude
41:09guys ask questions?
41:11What what was this clear?
41:13>> Yeah, you have a question.
41:20So in the future will we learn more
41:23about how do we find out what causes
41:26different stakeholders to have different
41:28interests like in the future? It's like
41:30not really really
41:32>> okay. Yeah, that's a really good
41:33question. So so thank you for asking.
41:34Okay.
41:37All right.
41:38So the question is
41:41where do the interest
41:45of these different players come from?
41:49Okay. And
41:52I mean the easy answer is the super
41:54structure of society. Okay, people are
41:58responding to their culture.
42:00But in game theory, what I want to teach
42:02you is that it's because they themselves
42:04are playing different games.
42:07Okay, so let's look at parents.
42:12[snorts] Okay, parents have different
42:15identities. They are um family,
42:20they are colleagues.
42:22Okay. And depending on on on their
42:25identity, they're playing a different
42:27game. All right. So, what does family
42:30family mean? Family means that you
42:34um might have brothers, right? Brothers.
42:38What do brothers do? They compete
42:40against each other, right? You have
42:42three brothers. You want to prove that
42:44you're better than your brother. How?
42:46Well, by having more money, by having
42:48better kids, by having a more beautiful
42:50wife. Okay, that's a game they're
42:52playing,
42:54right? Um, but then you have colleagues.
42:57You have colleagues
43:01and the game you're trying to play there
43:03is get along your colleagues because
43:05that that's what ensures your success in
43:06life. Okay? So you need to make sure
43:09that your child no matter how he or she
43:13is educated is able to become friends
43:16with the sons and daughters of your
43:18colleagues.
43:20Okay?
43:21So because this is what ensures success.
43:25All right? And so there are other games
43:26as well. But but you understand this
43:27right? You understand how parents so
43:29calculation isn't just like my kid I
43:32want my kid to be successful. No, no.
43:34You're thinking about how to play
43:36different games and be successful in
43:38other games, right? Because if you if
43:42your kid becomes very successful but not
43:44in a way that pleases the colleagues,
43:48you become you can be thrown out of the
43:51game. Okay. The people that the thing
43:52that people fear the most is the idea of
43:56aization. Okay.
43:59or basically just exile
44:02where you are no longer part of the
44:05group. They kick you out as a player.
44:07Okay,
44:09that's what people are afraid of and
44:11that's why people are motivated by what
44:14they do because they're trying to
44:15they're trying as hard as possible to to
44:17play the game
44:19and get along with other other players
44:22while at the same time competing against
44:24them. So so it's a weird psychology.
44:26Okay, you're trying to beat them. At the
44:27same time, you don't want to piss them
44:30off and get thrown out of the game.
44:32Okay,
44:33and this is what prevents the idea of
44:35cheating.
44:40But from the perspective of the game, if
44:43you're doing anything different, that's
44:45still cheating.
44:47Okay? Because so another way of saying
44:49this is a lot of the rebellion against
44:54what I was doing as a reformer is I was
44:59subverting traditional Chinese values.
45:03Okay. I was arguing against the norms,
45:07the values,
45:09the conventions of this country. And
45:12it's and so if people believed in me
45:16then they risk themselves being
45:18ostracized by the larger community.
45:22Okay, does that make sense? All right,
45:25so that's parents. Then you have
45:29um
45:31um
45:34right. Okay, but students, right? So
45:36students they're trying to play a game
45:39where they do well in school because
45:41that ensures a good outcome but at the
45:44same time students play other games as
45:45well. So for for example a friendship
45:46game right where you're trying to have
45:48as many friends as possible. You're
45:49trying to be popular in school. That's
45:51another game you play. You're also
45:52trying to please your parents
45:54right because by pleasing your parents
45:56that ensures that you have an easy
45:58comfortable [music] life. In fact you
46:00could argue that of these three games
46:02pleasing your parents is the most
46:04important. Then comes um having good
46:07friends because [music] that will also
46:10ensure your success in life. And the and
46:11the game that you care the least about
46:13that matters the least is actually doing
46:15all in school learning learning in
46:18school.
46:19Okay.
46:22Does does that make sense? So game
46:24theory it sounds easy but it's very very
46:27complicated because we're complicated
46:28individuals.
46:30Each one of us has different identities,
46:33has different motivations, and has
46:36different outlooks. And and also what's
46:38really important for us to understand is
46:39we're always changing as people. Okay?
46:41So the way that you behaved in
46:43kindergarten is not the way you behave
46:45today in high school, it will not be the
46:46way you behave when you enter society.
46:48You're always changing because the game
46:50is always changing. You must adapt to
46:52new games that have different players
46:55and have new requirements. Okay. So
46:57that's wonderful about us where we are
46:59easily
47:01adaptable where we are we are resilient
47:05okay but um we are always changing
47:10according to the game and and
47:15we are who we are is often determined by
47:18the nature of the game. Okay. So you
47:21could have come into school
47:24wanting to learn, being creative and all
47:27that, but eventually you you recognize
47:28that that's not really rewarded in
47:30school. All right? Getting along, having
47:33lots of friends, doing helping other
47:37students cheat, that's rewarded. And so
47:40you adapt to the game and that's why you
47:42behave the way you do. Okay? And if you
47:45actually go back and think about
47:46everything that you did in school,
47:49the answer is you're responding to a
47:52certain incentive or rule of the game.
47:57Okay?
47:59And that's what you need to that's what
48:01we need to understand
48:02about game theory.
48:05Game theory, it's not about ideas. It's
48:08not about ideals. It's not the way
48:10things should be. It's the way things
48:12are. And the way things are are
48:14determined by who players are and the
48:17way players behave
48:20um is a response to their the game they
48:22believe they're playing. Okay, does that
48:25make sense? Okay, so so thank you. Any
48:27more questions?
48:32Okay, great. So um we will continue this
48:36next class. Okay.

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