Scott H Young
Writer on learning and skill acquisition; author of Ultralearning and Get Better at Anything, known for the MIT Challenge and the Year Without English.
Scott H Young did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
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What they believe
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You cannot learn from work you did not do yourself.
But having AI do your homework is self-defeating. You can’t learn without doing the work.
scotthyoung.comSaid 22 Jul 2026This on korrents
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Changed their mind Struggling with a hard problem before being shown the answer is not always the best way to learn; a hint or a worked example can beat floundering.
Now If you had asked me this question in the lead up to my 2019 book, Ultralearning, I would have said no. I was a strong advocate for doing hard problem solving and the associated mental effort it requires as a way to learn difficult skills.
Said 22 Jul 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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On changing their mind
If you had asked me this question in the lead up to my 2019 book, Ultralearning, I would have said no. I was a strong advocate for doing hard problem solving and the associated mental effort it requires as a way to learn difficult skills.
From one piece We Need Guidelines for Learning and AI 3 beliefs · scotthyoung.com
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Their words
AI has the potential to assist with both the first and last element of that loop. What it cannot replace is the middle step—doing the work for yourself.
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korrents.com
Asking AI for help on a first attempt robs you of the experience that builds your own judgement about the problem.Their words
Asking an AI for help with the start of an essay, for instance, will invariably shape what direction you end up following, robbing you of the crucial experience of building your own judgement around a topic and selecting your own path to research and argue.
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korrents.com
You cannot learn from work you did not do yourself.Their words
But having AI do your homework is self-defeating. You can’t learn without doing the work.
2 July
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27 May
From one piece Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling 5 beliefs · scotthyoung.com
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korrents.com
Gamified learning is medicine wrapped in candy, and in practice children eat the candy and throw the medicine away.Their words
Gamified learning is a bit like wrapping medicine in candy. Yes, it may help some students swallow some instruction they otherwise find bitter, but in practice it’s easy to pull off the candy, consume it, and throw the medicine away.
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Their words
General problem solving abilities are neither learned nor taught. While some problem-solving methods have broader applicability than others (such as the scientific process of hypothesis testing), students learn these methods better when they’re explicitly taught rather than simply giving students projects and hoping they’ll reinvent them on their own.
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Their words
The boring truth is that expertise in most subjects is largely a matter of having an enormous library of knowledge and skill.
+ 2 more
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Their words
To the extent that school becomes more like free play, project-building or acting like a scientist, it will probably be worse.
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korrents.com
Whenever two teaching methods are rigorously compared, strong direct instruction plus practice wins.Their words
In short, whenever we have high-quality evidence that rigorously compares two teaching methods, the research invariably favors strong, direct instruction plus practice
14 May
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 22 beliefs, 2 changed minds — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
You cannot learn from work you did not do yourself.
But having AI do your homework is self-defeating. You can’t learn without doing the work.
We Need Guidelines for Learning and AI Said 22 Jul 2026
Asking AI for help on a first attempt robs you of the experience that builds your own judgement about the problem.
Asking an AI for help with the start of an essay, for instance, will invariably shape what direction you end up following, robbing you of the crucial experience of building your own judgement around a topic and selecting your own path to research and argue.
We Need Guidelines for Learning and AI Said 22 Jul 2026
AI can supply the instruction and the feedback in a practice loop, but it cannot supply the middle step, which is doing the work.
AI has the potential to assist with both the first and last element of that loop. What it cannot replace is the middle step—doing the work for yourself.
We Need Guidelines for Learning and AI Said 22 Jul 2026
Show 19 more
Whenever two teaching methods are rigorously compared, strong direct instruction plus practice wins.
In short, whenever we have high-quality evidence that rigorously compares two teaching methods, the research invariably favors strong, direct instruction plus practice
Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling Said 27 May 2026
A better school looks more like the old-fashioned schoolhouse than like project work; the more school resembles free play, the worse it gets.
To the extent that school becomes more like free play, project-building or acting like a scientist, it will probably be worse.
Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling Said 27 May 2026
Expertise is an enormous accumulated library of small facts and skills, which is why no method can shortcut the sheer volume of learning it takes.
The boring truth is that expertise in most subjects is largely a matter of having an enormous library of knowledge and skill.
Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling Said 27 May 2026
General problem-solving ability is neither learned nor taught; what transfers has to be taught explicitly rather than discovered through projects.
General problem solving abilities are neither learned nor taught. While some problem-solving methods have broader applicability than others (such as the scientific process of hypothesis testing), students learn these methods better when they’re explicitly taught rather than simply giving students projects and hoping they’ll reinvent them on their own.
Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling Said 27 May 2026
Gamified learning is medicine wrapped in candy, and in practice children eat the candy and throw the medicine away.
Gamified learning is a bit like wrapping medicine in candy. Yes, it may help some students swallow some instruction they otherwise find bitter, but in practice it’s easy to pull off the candy, consume it, and throw the medicine away.
Why I'm Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling Said 27 May 2026
Solving a problem yourself, without searching or prompting, is a form of exercise -- the help makes you weaker.
Learning requires an investment of effort, and AI will make us stupider if that effort is avoided.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
Knowledge that lives only in a book or a machine is not knowledge you have.
Knowledge is dead if it’s not in your head.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
A skill being automated is not a reason to stop learning it: practising what machines already do is often the stepping stone to what only people can do.
Very often, learning skills that are automated in practice is a necessary stepping stone to cultivating uniquely human skills.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
You cannot learn to code by having a model write it: the mental models only come from writing programs by hand.
The answer, I believe, is not too different from before: if you want to learn to code, you need to start by creating programs by hand.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
AI translation will stop you learning to speak a language, exactly as AI summaries stop you understanding a book.
Similarly, AI translation will prevent you from learning to speak another language, AI summaries will block you from really understanding the arguments laid out in a book, and AI analyses of your personal problems will make it harder for you to think through solutions to your own problems.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
Intelligence is becoming a choice rather than a byproduct of daily work: there will still be smart people, but only those who choose to be.
Thus my personal prediction is that in domains that are already largely under the powers of modern AI, such as languages, programming or chess, we’re going to see a divergence in human abilities.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
In a world changing this fast it is better to have broad interests than to be an extreme specialist.
In an environment of change, it’s better to be the hardy dandelion rather than the hothouse orchid.
What's Still Worth Learning in a World With AI? Said 3 Nov 2025
Reading a great deal about a subject works partly by holding your attention on it long enough to change, not only by adding facts.
Reading is attentional, not just informational.
12 Things I Changed My Mind About After Researching for Foundations Said 16 Sept 2025
Research earns its keep by telling you which of two plausible pieces of advice is the right one, because everything looks obvious once you know the answer.
The value of research is usually in telling you which of two plausible theories is true, or which advice from different, seemingly sensible approaches works best.
12 Things I Changed My Mind About After Researching for Foundations Said 16 Sept 2025
Pure discovery learning, in which students are never shown how, fails badly.
Pure discovery learning, where students are never shown instructions or examples, fails miserably.
Do You Learn More by Struggling on Hard Problems? Said 25 May 2022
Both instruction and practice are necessary for learning, and which of them comes first matters less than having both.
For starters, it’s abundantly clear that both practice and instruction are necessary for effective learning.
Do You Learn More by Struggling on Hard Problems? Said 25 May 2022
Refusing to speak English is what makes immersion work: it compresses years of language learning into months.
The no-English rule was largely what made the difference. Although there are many ways of learning a language, going for full immersion made it possible to learn what would have taken years in just a few months.
Looking Back at a Year (Almost) Without English Said 2 Sept 2014
Asian languages are hard enough that arriving without preparation and refusing to speak English will not work.
The main takeaway I made from all of this was: Asian languages are hard, and attempting full-immersion without sufficient preparation is usually not going to work.
Looking Back at a Year (Almost) Without English Said 2 Sept 2014
Learning a language in a hurry and learning one by slow patient habit are both legitimate; neither refutes the other.
Just because we attempted to learn with intensity, doesn’t denigrate learning languages through slow, patient habit.
Looking Back at a Year (Almost) Without English Said 2 Sept 2014
Beliefs others hold too
Solving a problem yourself, without searching or prompting, is a form of exercise -- the help makes you weaker. 2 hold this
Learning requires an investment of effort, and AI will make us stupider if that effort is avoided.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
Intelligence is becoming a choice rather than a byproduct of daily work: there will still be smart people, but only those who choose to be. 2 hold this
Thus my personal prediction is that in domains that are already largely under the powers of modern AI, such as languages, programming or chess, we’re going to see a divergence in human abilities.
Will AI Make Us Stupid? Said 18 Nov 2025
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 10 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Liked Beginning to Read
Marilyn Jager Adams's extensive review of the literature concluded essentially the same thing in 1994.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Loved Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory is a difficult book to summarize, but it has profoundly impacted my thinking.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Loved The Republic
To my surprise, I really enjoyed The Republic. It is both well-written and weird, which puts it above many other famous philosophical books that are too obscure to be easily read.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Show 7 more
Liked The Science of Learning Physics
Mestre and Docktor tackle this challenge by reviewing the large body of literature on learning physics. I plan on writing a full review of their book, which I found to be a helpful summary.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Liked How Languages are Learned
To that end, I read a few different books from the field of second language acquisition (SLA) over the summer, and even wrote a review of How Languages are Learned.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Liked Cognitive Behavior Therapy
I recently reviewed Beck's book, which is written as a practical guide for therapists implementing CBT.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Liked Creativity in Science
This book surveys theories of creativity, contrasting four competing explanations: expertise, genius, society, and chance, in offering a model for how creativity works. Simonton's work provides a nice hybrid between the purely anecdotal work of biographers and the data-driven work of experimental scientists.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Liked How We Reason
I had read Johnson-Laird's original work, Mental Models, last year. It was nice to see an in-depth follow-up on how the theory has developed in the subsequent two decades.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Loved Psych
Despite having read a few bookshelves worth of academic psychology texts, I enjoyed Yale professor Paul Bloom's survey of the field. Because understanding psychology cannot be divorced from understanding its history, I enjoyed Bloom's birds-eye view of the field from the past to the present day.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Liked Why Knowledge Matters
In this 2016 book, Hirsch presents a sweeping curriculum change in French schools as evidence that misguided educational theories are undermining our children's learning.
scotthyoung.com 19 Dec 2023
Where they publish
Site scotthyoung.com His site: essays on learning, plus yearly reading round-ups.
Recent
- The Best Way to Take Notes 13 Oct 2026 may be the method that uses the least technology. I'll explain why notes still matter and how to learn better with them.
- The Simple Method That Boosts Memory by 50% 6 Oct 2026 Effective learning doesn't need to be complicated. Here's a simple trick that outperforms mind-maps.
- Reach the Top 1% of Your Field (Deliberate Practice) 30 Sept 2026 Revisiting one of the most influential theories of mastery and professional excellence.
Show 7 more
- You Should Care Less About Practical Advice 21 Sept 2026 Most readers prefer useful advice to abstract theory. They shouldn't.
- How to stop forgetting what you read 15 Sept 2026 The decisive step for long-term retention of what you read occurs long before you open the book.
- Book Review: China’s Examination Hell 1 Sept 2026 Why does East Asia place so well in school? A look at Ichisada Miyazaki's excellent look at the 1300+ history of the world's most competitive exam.
- The Paradox of Burnout 26 Aug 2026 Consider two different kinds of jobs: In the first job, there is prestige, interest and, in many instances, good pay and benefits. Many people see this line of work as not merely a job, but a calling. In the second job,…
- I’m 38 19 Aug 2026 Some birthday reflections and plans for the future.
- Recent Reading 6 Aug 2026 Envy, ancient genes, nihilism, and modern manufacturing. Some books I read recently that I found interesting.
- Discouraged? Here’s How to Stay Motivated 30 Jul 2026 Recently a reader asked me how to stay motivated to do the work after being dealt a number of setbacks. How do you keep studying when you’ve failed the exam three times already? How do you keep sending resumes when you’…
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
x.com @scotthyoung His X account.
Recent
- New Article: The Best Way to Take Notes https://t.co/ZbuttXqik7 Taking notes isn’t just about remembering information later. It’s also a way to learn while you listen. In an age of AI summaries, that distinction matters more than ever. 15 Oct 2026
- New Article: The Simple Method That Boosts Memory by 50% https://t.co/xtb9Pg4aTU Retrieval practice is one of the most robust findings in learning research, yet students consistently underestimate it. I look at why trying to remember something is more effective than rereading 8 Oct 2026
- New Article: Reach the Top 1% of Your Field (Deliberate Practice) https://t.co/vrgmedp2la Getting better isn’t just about practicing more. You need to know what is worth practicing, how to demonstrate the skill, and how to create real-world situations that push you to improve 1 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- New Article: You Should Care Less About Practical Advice https://t.co/vfGDzVN7hw I’m increasingly convinced that the most useful knowledge isn’t always the most practical. Learn the principles first. When you encounter a specific problem, you can work out which advice applies 24 Sept 2026
- New Article: How to stop forgetting what you read https://t.co/5oGObe4srl Why do we forget so much of what we read? I think the answer is less about finding the perfect note-taking system and more about building a larger base of knowledge. 17 Sept 2026
- New Article: Book Review: China’s Examination Hell https://t.co/qJGWKpTLEZ I found China’s Examination Hell fascinating. It offers a very different perspective on education, learning and competition. Here’s my review. 3 Sept 2026
- New Article: The Paradox of Burnout https://t.co/xBBp7UZiX9 What if caring deeply about your work can actually increase your risk of burnout? I explore the paradox in this article. 27 Aug 2026
- New Article: Recent Reading https://t.co/Wr0Ts9L3KK I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading lately, so I thought I’d share some of the books that have caught my attention. There’s a little bit of everything here, and several books I’d happily recommend. 13 Aug 2026
- New Article: Discouraged? Here’s How to Stay Motivated https://t.co/KVn1bTXzco We all reach moments where continuing feels harder than quitting. I've found those moments become much easier when I have a plan I genuinely believe in. This article is about how to build one. 31 Jul 2026
- New Article: We Need Guidelines for Learning and AI https://t.co/d16V9iW0OU I've been thinking a lot about AI and learning lately. The technology is remarkable, but I've become convinced we need better habits for using it. In this article, I share the guidelines I've created. 23 Jul 2026
- New Article: How to Find Time for Learning https://t.co/PczMpCbpL2 Learning is exciting in theory, but fitting it into a busy life is another matter entirely. In this article, I share some of the strategies that have helped me make learning a consistent part of life. 2 Jul 2026
- New Article: Your Problem Isn’t Willpower https://t.co/Z0AJeqEDQQ The solution isn’t always trying harder. Here’s why. 18 Jun 2026
- New article: Focus is Motivation https://t.co/8wlhJag5As Some days I feel motivated and focused. Other days I feel neither. Thinking about that pattern led me to a simple question: what if focus comes first? This article is my attempt to answer it. 5 Jun 2026
- New Article Why I’m Skeptical About Efforts to Revolutionize Schooling https://t.co/vHwneQy2rU I still believe learning can be improved dramatically for motivated people. But I’ve become much less optimistic about simple solutions for fixing education at scale. 28 May 2026
- I recently sat down with Timothy Kenny to walk through my library. We discuss a bunch of my favorite books and how they’ve influence me. Check out the video here: 14 May 2026 youtube.com
- New Article: What if We’re Already Living in Utopia? https://t.co/Dl5UNMKVfn By historical standards, modern life delivers extraordinary levels of comfort, convenience and stimulation. Yet rates of anxiety, distraction and dissatisfaction continue to rise. 14 May 2026
- New Article: I Wrote Ultralearning. This is What I’d Change Because of AI https://t.co/SmHV6OuKYC When I wrote Ultralearning, AI wasn’t part of the conversation. Today, it changes how we research, practice and get feedback, but not the fundamental effort required to learn. 30 Apr 2026
- New Article: How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise Regularly https://t.co/vYVSte9v6Y I’ve noticed that motivation to exercise comes and goes, but consistency depends on something else entirely. In this article, I try to unpack what that is and how to work with it. 23 Apr 2026
- New Course Everyday Energy is now available! https://t.co/kxOmaOsSAC Better energy. Smarter effort. Less burnout. This course helps you understand how energy works so you can stay productive without feeling constantly drained. 23 Mar 2026
- Lesson Four: The Opposite of Burnout https://t.co/9njqE2P6Cc Burnout gets a lot of attention, but we don’t talk as much about the positive side of the equation. This article is my attempt to think that through. 23 Mar 2026
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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