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a still evolving business that currently includes an elementary school and a coding academy. Education is like catnip to these people. It's like some kind of a

a still evolving business that currently includes an elementary school and a coding academy. Education is like catnip to these people. It's like some kind of attractor industry. They're all convinced they have the magic formula.

vkou 8y ago
That's because everyone has an opinion, and everyone's[1] gone to at least elementary school. If I were made king of the world, I'd have a lot of ideas about how to reform education (after I'd take some time to throw sand in Billy's face, as payback for three years of playground bullying.) [1] Just about everyone, at least.
toddmorey 8y ago
To be fair, education in the US is very broken.
- avip 8y ago
  Yet if you look at places where education seems less broken, it has nothing to do with tech or startups. Quite the opposite.
- pjc50 8y ago
  It remains unlooted so far. It needs a layer of opaque billing, routinely bankrupting its customers, and profit extraction to match the healthcare industry.
  - PhantomGremlin 8y ago
    It remains unlooted so far. On the contrary, public employee unions (including teachers) have done a masterful job of enriching themselves at public expense. E.g. Oregon: Member accounts saw appreciable and consistent growth during this time, but underlying pension assets did not grow to cover the increased benefit guarantee. Career public employees who worked from 1970 to 2000 often were entitled to retirement income replacement rates over 130% of their pre-retirement earnings.[1] Show me private sector pensions (if you can still find any) that come close to that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retirement_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retire...
    - strontium_90 8y ago
      It's not obviously true that high pensions mean unfairly high remuneration. Another hypothesis that fits the facts you've mentioned could be that private sector salaries that could be earned by teachers are higher, and the public sector is competing by offering more attractive pensions for teachers than the private sector does. There's another possible contributing factor: government can offer higher future pensions without increasing current expenditure (because government is not forced to fund the higher pensions until they need to be paid, many years in the future). Maybe that's why so many US states have dramatically underfunded pension plans (meaning teachers and other pensioners might not actually get their promised pensions when they retire).
      - PhantomGremlin 8y ago
        Maybe that's why so many US states have dramatically underfunded pension plans (meaning teachers and other pensioners might not actually get their promised pensions when they retire). This is a very complex topic. I think it's widely agreed that the US Congress can change Social Security benefits at any time. But the pension issue varies in the states. E.g. the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that pensions were sacrosanct: Justices cited a provision in the Illinois Constitution stating that pension benefits, once granted, “shall not be diminished or impaired.” https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-illinois-labor-union-pension-law-struck-down-20181130-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-il...
    - camgunz 8y ago
      This is facially false. No one eligible for a public sector pension is well off. 130% of nothing is still nothing. Like honestly, think of all the people you know in unions. What are their houses and cars like? Do they live in the rich neighborhoods with the doctors, lawyers, and professional athletes? Do their kids go to expensive private schools? Just outrageously wrong. The issue here is that most (all?) state and local governments are very resource constrained by reactionary Republican low tax regimes, so the amount of money required for pensions (or health care or education) is a big pie slice. But if these governments adopted reasonable, progressive tax regimes with confiscatory upper limits, the pie would look very different. In other words, look at the ruthless income inequality in this country before blaming budget shortfalls on government employees, social programs, and unions.
- golergka 8y ago
  I don't know a single country where it isn't. Modern education paradigm is broken.
rhizome 8y ago
It's like some kind of attractor industry Sweet, sweet tax dollars in your pocket.
gaius 8y ago
Lots of money, not much oversight, “won’t somebody think of the children”.

vkou 8y ago

That's because everyone has an opinion, and everyone's[1] gone to at least elementary school. If I were made king of the world, I'd have a lot of ideas about how to reform education (after I'd take some time to throw sand in Billy's face, as payback for three years of playground bullying.) [1] Just about everyone, at least.

toddmorey 8y ago

To be fair, education in the US is very broken.

avip 8y ago
Yet if you look at places where education seems less broken, it has nothing to do with tech or startups. Quite the opposite.
pjc50 8y ago
It remains unlooted so far. It needs a layer of opaque billing, routinely bankrupting its customers, and profit extraction to match the healthcare industry.
- PhantomGremlin 8y ago
  It remains unlooted so far. On the contrary, public employee unions (including teachers) have done a masterful job of enriching themselves at public expense. E.g. Oregon: Member accounts saw appreciable and consistent growth during this time, but underlying pension assets did not grow to cover the increased benefit guarantee. Career public employees who worked from 1970 to 2000 often were entitled to retirement income replacement rates over 130% of their pre-retirement earnings.[1] Show me private sector pensions (if you can still find any) that come close to that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retirement_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Public_Employees_Retire...
  - strontium_90 8y ago
    It's not obviously true that high pensions mean unfairly high remuneration. Another hypothesis that fits the facts you've mentioned could be that private sector salaries that could be earned by teachers are higher, and the public sector is competing by offering more attractive pensions for teachers than the private sector does. There's another possible contributing factor: government can offer higher future pensions without increasing current expenditure (because government is not forced to fund the higher pensions until they need to be paid, many years in the future). Maybe that's why so many US states have dramatically underfunded pension plans (meaning teachers and other pensioners might not actually get their promised pensions when they retire).
    - PhantomGremlin 8y ago
      Maybe that's why so many US states have dramatically underfunded pension plans (meaning teachers and other pensioners might not actually get their promised pensions when they retire). This is a very complex topic. I think it's widely agreed that the US Congress can change Social Security benefits at any time. But the pension issue varies in the states. E.g. the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that pensions were sacrosanct: Justices cited a provision in the Illinois Constitution stating that pension benefits, once granted, “shall not be diminished or impaired.” https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-illinois-labor-union-pension-law-struck-down-20181130-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-il...
  - camgunz 8y ago
    This is facially false. No one eligible for a public sector pension is well off. 130% of nothing is still nothing. Like honestly, think of all the people you know in unions. What are their houses and cars like? Do they live in the rich neighborhoods with the doctors, lawyers, and professional athletes? Do their kids go to expensive private schools? Just outrageously wrong. The issue here is that most (all?) state and local governments are very resource constrained by reactionary Republican low tax regimes, so the amount of money required for pensions (or health care or education) is a big pie slice. But if these governments adopted reasonable, progressive tax regimes with confiscatory upper limits, the pie would look very different. In other words, look at the ruthless income inequality in this country before blaming budget shortfalls on government employees, social programs, and unions.
golergka 8y ago
I don't know a single country where it isn't. Modern education paradigm is broken.

rhizome 8y ago

It's like some kind of attractor industry Sweet, sweet tax dollars in your pocket.

gaius 8y ago

Lots of money, not much oversight, “won’t somebody think of the children”.