"I love Sir Robinson's sense of humor he uses so cleverly to drive home his point of view on some very serious issues. Kids of today almost do not seem allowed to "suffer from childhood". So we have come full circle from Victorian times when children were supposed to be seen but not heard and behave like miniature adults or work 12-14 hour workdays depending on your social status, to a situation where children are completely planned virtually from the day they are conceived (which kindergarden should we enroll in) to extra-curricular activities (they will need Mandarin in a global economy). There are many ways to stifle creativity and curiosity. What scares me most is how far removed the coming generations are from "mother nature". How can you cherish and protect something you know nothing about?"
I like this comment because it is true. The speaker was funny while also being serious. The comment was also critical while not being super negative, which is a welcome reprieve from some of the comments to this video.
"those who went to school works for the people who left school like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg"
I disagree with this comment because I feel like the person who posted it is rooting for everyone to drop out of school. I do not agree with him. I think there are ways to improve the education system, but encouraging children to drop out is not the answer.
What insight do these comments give you with respect to youtube videos as a social commentary?
I think people in our society today definitely use Youtube as a social commentary but not necessarily always in the best way. A lot of the comments I saw were very pessimistic. I do not think that was the point of the video. The way I saw it, the video was pointing out obvious flaws in our education system but remained hopeful that we could change things for the better. Some of the comments on the video did not share that same hope or were openly critical of the speaker himself. Often people use social media sites like Youtube to hide behind the screen and they say things that they probably would not have the courage to say face-to-face with someone.