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Interesting article, but some details are vague. The MIT students pointed out that most of the protesting parents were white while while a majority of the scho

Interesting article, but some details are vague. The MIT students pointed out that most of the protesting parents were white while while a majority of the school district were minorities. The obvious subtext is that white citizens are having an outsized influence in the city's decision making to the detriment of minorities. But there's another option that isn't considered in the article (though it may have been considered in real life), minority parents didn't like the new schedules either but didn't feel motivated enough, either because of political disenfranchisement or apathy, to try and do anything it. If this is the case, then the whole narrative changes completely.

wizzard 8y ago
The article didn’t present it as “white citizens have an outsized influence” but as “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” A smaller number of VERY upset people makes a bigger impact than a large number of moderately happier people. It seems like the author, the press, the school district etc. overreacted in the face of pressure.
- frahs 8y ago
  What if the number of people upset with the schedules was actually much larger (and more diverse), but only privileged families felt comfortable or justified protesting the schedule?
  - wizzard 8y ago
    It seems unlikely that EVERYONE hated the schedule changes, given that the changes were designed to benefit the majority of them. We can speculate all day about how people may have felt, but we just don't know. The district should have done polling to see what the overall reaction was before they pulled the plug. And if the counter-arguments amount to "I don't like change" then I think the district has a prerogative to optimize for health, safety, and costs.
Arn_Thor 8y ago
That's not my takeaway. The article specifically mentions that the algorithm was biased for "equity", to the detriment of "privileged" families. That would allow us to reasonably conclude that probably white families were impacted more negatively by the changes. Unless I'm misreading?

wizzard 8y ago

The article didn’t present it as “white citizens have an outsized influence” but as “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” A smaller number of VERY upset people makes a bigger impact than a large number of moderately happier people. It seems like the author, the press, the school district etc. overreacted in the face of pressure.

frahs 8y ago
What if the number of people upset with the schedules was actually much larger (and more diverse), but only privileged families felt comfortable or justified protesting the schedule?
- wizzard 8y ago
  It seems unlikely that EVERYONE hated the schedule changes, given that the changes were designed to benefit the majority of them. We can speculate all day about how people may have felt, but we just don't know. The district should have done polling to see what the overall reaction was before they pulled the plug. And if the counter-arguments amount to "I don't like change" then I think the district has a prerogative to optimize for health, safety, and costs.

Arn_Thor 8y ago

That's not my takeaway. The article specifically mentions that the algorithm was biased for "equity", to the detriment of "privileged" families. That would allow us to reasonably conclude that probably white families were impacted more negatively by the changes. Unless I'm misreading?