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> Making a really cheap, high quality school is much better than funding tuition in existing schools. But there are a lot of people working on this, including

> Making a really cheap, high quality school is much better than funding tuition in existing schools. But there are a lot of people working on this, including many who are already employing a "disruption" mindset. I think it's refreshing that her approach isn't dripping with that classic tech-boy hubris of looking for two seconds and deciding you need to reinvent, but is rather rooted in affirming and uplifting good work that's already going on, regardless of whether that work is bootstrapping new and better systems, or may well just be passing on the cash— which in many cases could in fact be the most effective thing to do with it: https://epar.evans.uw.edu/blog/long-term-impacts-cash-transfer-programs-what-does-evidence-say https://epar.evans.uw.edu/blog/long-term-impacts-cash-transf...

wavefunction 5y ago
I agree with you. She seems to recognize that helping people to help themselves is a better use of the funds than trying to swoop in and "save them."
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  It's tough because I think in some cases there really are new things that can be done, where the volume of money in question makes it logical to start over— thinking of the Gates foundation trying to tackle malaria, or address sanitation issues around toilets. But education? Inequality? These aren't ones where some random person who hasn't been thinking about it for decades is going to come up with a radically new approach.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    Even the Gates foundation itself wasted quite a bit of money in funding approaches to education (like "small schools") that just didn't yield good outcomes, and were sometimes harmful.
    - mikepurvis 5y ago
      Yeah, that was one of the ones I was thinking of, I just couldn't remember the details— here it is for anyone else out of the loop: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/the-small-schools-myth.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/th...

wavefunction 5y ago

I agree with you. She seems to recognize that helping people to help themselves is a better use of the funds than trying to swoop in and "save them."

mikepurvis 5y ago
It's tough because I think in some cases there really are new things that can be done, where the volume of money in question makes it logical to start over— thinking of the Gates foundation trying to tackle malaria, or address sanitation issues around toilets. But education? Inequality? These aren't ones where some random person who hasn't been thinking about it for decades is going to come up with a radically new approach.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  Even the Gates foundation itself wasted quite a bit of money in funding approaches to education (like "small schools") that just didn't yield good outcomes, and were sometimes harmful.
  - mikepurvis 5y ago
    Yeah, that was one of the ones I was thinking of, I just couldn't remember the details— here it is for anyone else out of the loop: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/the-small-schools-myth.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/th...