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Why don’t we take the $10k to $20k we pay per student in America annually to educate them, and let the parent allocate those funds where they want? Learning pod

Why don’t we take the $10k to $20k we pay per student in America annually to educate them, and let the parent allocate those funds where they want? Learning pods cost less than that for parents, but sadly only the rich can afford it (like most things private). Basically keep the public funding but give allocation control to parents. Then everyone can have the same choice as rich people.

endisneigh 5y ago
They may or may not be a good idea, but isn’t related to the fact that online learning just doesn’t scale. The OP pretty much is evidence of such.
- seibelj 5y ago
  It literally scales better than any other mechanism of schooling! You have the best possible educators create lesson plans, videos, and visual materials and then lesser-skilled facilitators can assist students as they learn. It’s the absolute most scalable mechanism of education thus created.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    Again, school isn’t just about education. Facilities, transportation, child care, behavioral management, counseling, etc. No, online “school” doesn’t scale.
    - seibelj 5y ago
      I don't think you need a ton of facilities to learn, just as you don't need a giant university to learn most subjects at an advanced level. And we can place pods close to students rather than far away in a centralized place. And for behavioral management / counseling, certain kids need a lot more of that than others, so they should get those resources on an individual basis. I favor a model of education that lets advanced kids move quicker than slower kids, and if slower kids pick up the pace, the system can adapt for them to move quicker also. A vast improvement over the current system of institutional mediocrity.
      - Karrot_Kream 5y ago
        This seems optimized for the smarter/more successful children. What happens to the rest?
        seibelj 5y ago
        I don't think every child would like to optimize their life for academic success, and some would prefer to do things other than university-level education. And that's fine. We should create individual educational plans that match a child's interests and aptitudes, and a system of individualized learning is far better at this than the factory-education model that is currently standard.
        Karrot_Kream 5y ago
        Hard agree. I agree that the way we're spending money on kids right now is idiotic. Factory-education is dumb. Just try to remember (sorry I don't mean this in a patronizing way, tone on the internet is hard) that we should have a backstop for children at the margins. But yes, a customizable education system should be able to recognize this. Not force everyone into the same silly pipeline, no matter their interests, circumstances, or aptitude. One thing that I would love to see in public schools is to allow a "free elective" that public schools administer (assuming the child picks it), which is just a MOOC with an examination schedule. A teacher can be tasked on following-up and ensuring that the child is actually making progress on their assessments, but that's it, maybe even offering a pass/fail option. This offers a low-cost way for children to explore their interests through high-level instruction without having to specifically source a teacher/expert on this material. A counselor would need to work with a child on an individual basis to evaluate whether the free elective was appropriate. Sadly in larger public schools counselors barely have enough time to keep track of their failing students, let alone their successful ones.
Karrot_Kream 5y ago
That's attractive for motivated parents with the time to design a curriculum and work with their children, or at least evaluate their children's learning. The reality is that most American parents are working at least one job each for part of the day, sometimes even two. Moreover there are a lot of kids who come from essentially broken families. A $10-20k voucher system only helps if there's a public backstop to help these kids not fall through the cracks. I agree that the current system is fairly asinine, but we'd need more than a simple voucher/payout system.

endisneigh 5y ago

They may or may not be a good idea, but isn’t related to the fact that online learning just doesn’t scale. The OP pretty much is evidence of such.

seibelj 5y ago
It literally scales better than any other mechanism of schooling! You have the best possible educators create lesson plans, videos, and visual materials and then lesser-skilled facilitators can assist students as they learn. It’s the absolute most scalable mechanism of education thus created.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  Again, school isn’t just about education. Facilities, transportation, child care, behavioral management, counseling, etc. No, online “school” doesn’t scale.
  - seibelj 5y ago
    I don't think you need a ton of facilities to learn, just as you don't need a giant university to learn most subjects at an advanced level. And we can place pods close to students rather than far away in a centralized place. And for behavioral management / counseling, certain kids need a lot more of that than others, so they should get those resources on an individual basis. I favor a model of education that lets advanced kids move quicker than slower kids, and if slower kids pick up the pace, the system can adapt for them to move quicker also. A vast improvement over the current system of institutional mediocrity.
    - Karrot_Kream 5y ago
      This seems optimized for the smarter/more successful children. What happens to the rest?
      - seibelj 5y ago
        I don't think every child would like to optimize their life for academic success, and some would prefer to do things other than university-level education. And that's fine. We should create individual educational plans that match a child's interests and aptitudes, and a system of individualized learning is far better at this than the factory-education model that is currently standard.
        Karrot_Kream 5y ago
        Hard agree. I agree that the way we're spending money on kids right now is idiotic. Factory-education is dumb. Just try to remember (sorry I don't mean this in a patronizing way, tone on the internet is hard) that we should have a backstop for children at the margins. But yes, a customizable education system should be able to recognize this. Not force everyone into the same silly pipeline, no matter their interests, circumstances, or aptitude. One thing that I would love to see in public schools is to allow a "free elective" that public schools administer (assuming the child picks it), which is just a MOOC with an examination schedule. A teacher can be tasked on following-up and ensuring that the child is actually making progress on their assessments, but that's it, maybe even offering a pass/fail option. This offers a low-cost way for children to explore their interests through high-level instruction without having to specifically source a teacher/expert on this material. A counselor would need to work with a child on an individual basis to evaluate whether the free elective was appropriate. Sadly in larger public schools counselors barely have enough time to keep track of their failing students, let alone their successful ones.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago

That's attractive for motivated parents with the time to design a curriculum and work with their children, or at least evaluate their children's learning. The reality is that most American parents are working at least one job each for part of the day, sometimes even two. Moreover there are a lot of kids who come from essentially broken families. A $10-20k voucher system only helps if there's a public backstop to help these kids not fall through the cracks. I agree that the current system is fairly asinine, but we'd need more than a simple voucher/payout system.