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This is greatly cost-prohibitive! You cannot make a dent into the system with $200+/mo service!

callinOutLiars 6y ago
You sound like the old man... An old man was walking along a beach after a storm. While walking he sees a little boy though starfish into the ocean. Old man: “Ay, boy! What are you doing?” Boy: “I’m throwing the starfish into the sea so they can go home” Old man (after looking at the thousands of starfish that washed up thanks to the storm): “Why? You can’t save them all!” Boy (picks one up and throws it into the sea without breaking eye contact with the old man): “I just saved that one” The old man was taken aback by the child’s moxie that he even started to through a few back himself as he continued his walk. After his walk, the old man and his wife go for breakfast with some friends. There, the old man tells them about the little boy and the starfish. Everyone at the table, and even a few tables away (the old man is loud you see), loved the story. In fact they loved it so much that it start to spread through town. By noon that day hundreds of people had join the boy on the beach throwing starfish into the sea. By sunset there were no starfish on the beach.
- sharkmerry 6y ago
  does it cost money to throw starfish into the sea? I think OP was saying if you want to make a dent, it has to be available to those that need it, not just those that can afford it
  - callinOutLiars 6y ago
    Why are you asking me? Why not ask OP why they made up a figure that isn’t in the actual post “$200+/mo service”? That is no where in the post OP is commenting on.
  - woofie11 6y ago
    Typical cost of schools is $10,000 per year. If you're doing $200/month, it's pretty good! If you prove results, it's a question of figuring out how to work politics. But first you gotta prove results.
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      Right, but that implies that you can get the state (or at least the school district) to switch. If you can't, though, you have to make it something a parent can afford. And they don't get the $10000/year back if they don't send their child to public school.
      - woofie11 6y ago
        No, I think the first step to getting the state to switch is to demonstrate a proven model. Starting with something some parents or sponsors can afford is a reasonable starting point. If this works for affluent parents, it's not hard to get Gates or Schmidt or similar to drop $$$ for a pilot with less affluent students. Changing education systems is a long process, but simply saying anything without a payback for all students within a 12-24 month timeframe, although aligned with the values of tech, is not a helpful model in education. Policy decisions in education take 5-20 years to make, but they do get made. The slowness is a function of how long it takes to see impact (and not wanting to hurt students). If we could put all politics aside, the model would be: * Develop a model (1-4 years) * Pilot it (2-4 years) * Research it (2-4 years) * Scale it (many years) Simply saying we won't do #1 or #2 since it isn't #4 isn't productive.
actfrench 6y ago
I agree. That's why I'm looking for a technical partner to help scale this and make it universally accessible!
actfrench 6y ago
What we've created so far is just the a small piece of what I'm hoping to build with the right partner and not at all the final result. If it were, I wouldn't be looking for partners to help think creatively about a better educational system. A public school currently costs between 10k-22k per pupil in many states. We're trying to build a more flexible system that is considerably less expensive, more community-driven and equitable.
actfrench 6y ago
Even though we're at an early stage (and run by one teacher) we've been offering this for free to many families and also run a service that gives free math tutoring to all families. It's not fair to expect an early stage founder who is a teacher to teach all the children in the world for free at the beginning stage of their company. If I am to build upon what I"m started, partner with districts and non-profits to make it accessible and free to all, I need partners to help build it. This is in no way a finished project. It's a mission and an idea. The goal is to make it great and universally accessible. We're far from there yet, but I think it's worth trying.
- AnimalMuppet 6y ago
  If you want to make it freely available, YC sometimes funds non-profits.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

You sound like the old man... An old man was walking along a beach after a storm. While walking he sees a little boy though starfish into the ocean. Old man: “Ay, boy! What are you doing?” Boy: “I’m throwing the starfish into the sea so they can go home” Old man (after looking at the thousands of starfish that washed up thanks to the storm): “Why? You can’t save them all!” Boy (picks one up and throws it into the sea without breaking eye contact with the old man): “I just saved that one” The old man was taken aback by the child’s moxie that he even started to through a few back himself as he continued his walk. After his walk, the old man and his wife go for breakfast with some friends. There, the old man tells them about the little boy and the starfish. Everyone at the table, and even a few tables away (the old man is loud you see), loved the story. In fact they loved it so much that it start to spread through town. By noon that day hundreds of people had join the boy on the beach throwing starfish into the sea. By sunset there were no starfish on the beach.

sharkmerry 6y ago
does it cost money to throw starfish into the sea? I think OP was saying if you want to make a dent, it has to be available to those that need it, not just those that can afford it
- callinOutLiars 6y ago
  Why are you asking me? Why not ask OP why they made up a figure that isn’t in the actual post “$200+/mo service”? That is no where in the post OP is commenting on.
- woofie11 6y ago
  Typical cost of schools is $10,000 per year. If you're doing $200/month, it's pretty good! If you prove results, it's a question of figuring out how to work politics. But first you gotta prove results.
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    Right, but that implies that you can get the state (or at least the school district) to switch. If you can't, though, you have to make it something a parent can afford. And they don't get the $10000/year back if they don't send their child to public school.
    - woofie11 6y ago
      No, I think the first step to getting the state to switch is to demonstrate a proven model. Starting with something some parents or sponsors can afford is a reasonable starting point. If this works for affluent parents, it's not hard to get Gates or Schmidt or similar to drop $$$ for a pilot with less affluent students. Changing education systems is a long process, but simply saying anything without a payback for all students within a 12-24 month timeframe, although aligned with the values of tech, is not a helpful model in education. Policy decisions in education take 5-20 years to make, but they do get made. The slowness is a function of how long it takes to see impact (and not wanting to hurt students). If we could put all politics aside, the model would be: * Develop a model (1-4 years) * Pilot it (2-4 years) * Research it (2-4 years) * Scale it (many years) Simply saying we won't do #1 or #2 since it isn't #4 isn't productive.

actfrench 6y ago

I agree. That's why I'm looking for a technical partner to help scale this and make it universally accessible!

actfrench 6y ago

What we've created so far is just the a small piece of what I'm hoping to build with the right partner and not at all the final result. If it were, I wouldn't be looking for partners to help think creatively about a better educational system. A public school currently costs between 10k-22k per pupil in many states. We're trying to build a more flexible system that is considerably less expensive, more community-driven and equitable.

actfrench 6y ago

Even though we're at an early stage (and run by one teacher) we've been offering this for free to many families and also run a service that gives free math tutoring to all families. It's not fair to expect an early stage founder who is a teacher to teach all the children in the world for free at the beginning stage of their company. If I am to build upon what I"m started, partner with districts and non-profits to make it accessible and free to all, I need partners to help build it. This is in no way a finished project. It's a mission and an idea. The goal is to make it great and universally accessible. We're far from there yet, but I think it's worth trying.

AnimalMuppet 6y ago
If you want to make it freely available, YC sometimes funds non-profits.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]