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Your entire framework is capitalist voodoo. The US education system can stand to spend way more money compared to other budget areas like defense that are mass

Your entire framework is capitalist voodoo. The US education system can stand to spend way more money compared to other budget areas like defense that are massively overfunded. Teachers are paupers for absolutely no good reason. Furthermore, what are you measuring outcomes against? We don't even have a holistic universal measurement of positive outcomes. Standardized tests are a joke and everyone knows it.

giantg2 3y ago
"Your entire framework is capitalist voodoo." This feels like youre getting outside the HN guidelines. What framework? Which parts? "The US education system can stand to spend way more money compared to other budget areas like defense that are massively overfunded." Would that money fix anything? Do you have any stats/criteria for how a particular area of the budget is overfunded? Otherwise when taken with your other verbiage, it sounds like just an inflammatory opinion. The US already spends 6.1% of its GDP on education, which is more than most other countries. "Teachers are paupers for absolutely no good reason." This is a bit dramatic given the definition. There are a few states with low teacher pay. However, you have to also look at median income and cost of living. Yeah, the average teacher makes about $50k in MS, but median income for MS is $48k per year with a low cost of living in most of the state. I have friends who have turned down public teaching that would pay more than their private teaching job due to the way the schools are run. Clearly pay is not the main issue in my area. "Furthermore, what are you measuring outcomes against? We don't even have a holistic universal measurement of positive outcomes." In general, you are right. In the context of this thread, those would be test scores, graduation rate, job/college placement rates. "Standardized tests are a joke and everyone knows it." No, not everyone knows it. Care to explain? It seems the test measure what the kids are supposed to know at a specific level. Are there some problems with things like teaching to the test instead of teaching for durable knowledge or love of learning, sure. But if you know how to read/write/etc at your grade level, then your scores will be fine. Seem like one of the best comparisons we have. Are there better alternatives?

giantg2 3y ago

"Your entire framework is capitalist voodoo." This feels like youre getting outside the HN guidelines. What framework? Which parts? "The US education system can stand to spend way more money compared to other budget areas like defense that are massively overfunded." Would that money fix anything? Do you have any stats/criteria for how a particular area of the budget is overfunded? Otherwise when taken with your other verbiage, it sounds like just an inflammatory opinion. The US already spends 6.1% of its GDP on education, which is more than most other countries. "Teachers are paupers for absolutely no good reason." This is a bit dramatic given the definition. There are a few states with low teacher pay. However, you have to also look at median income and cost of living. Yeah, the average teacher makes about $50k in MS, but median income for MS is $48k per year with a low cost of living in most of the state. I have friends who have turned down public teaching that would pay more than their private teaching job due to the way the schools are run. Clearly pay is not the main issue in my area. "Furthermore, what are you measuring outcomes against? We don't even have a holistic universal measurement of positive outcomes." In general, you are right. In the context of this thread, those would be test scores, graduation rate, job/college placement rates. "Standardized tests are a joke and everyone knows it." No, not everyone knows it. Care to explain? It seems the test measure what the kids are supposed to know at a specific level. Are there some problems with things like teaching to the test instead of teaching for durable knowledge or love of learning, sure. But if you know how to read/write/etc at your grade level, then your scores will be fine. Seem like one of the best comparisons we have. Are there better alternatives?