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The best way to combat the competence crisis, proven over centuries, would be to fund public education, yet it’s a curiously absent policy position in their pub

The best way to combat the competence crisis, proven over centuries, would be to fund public education, yet it’s a curiously absent policy position in their publication (because, ick, taxes).

thaumasiotes 3y ago
Public education is already very heavily funded. As of last report, the correlation between funding and student performance was negative, suggesting that additional funding is unlikely to achieve much.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  Indeed. Money won't solve it. The crisis in education is cultural. It's profound, deep, and I think it will end us more surely than climate change, war or disease. We're heading toward an inability to replicate our own essential cultural DNA, whether in institutions or in common values. We've become anti-intellectual, iconoclastic, lazy and idolatrous - and sadly one cause of this is technology and our misplaced belief in systems rather than human values - in certainty rather than toil. "Competence" is a jolly complex thing. It's more than the ability to pull levers and operate systems that someone else put in place. It involves transcendent thinking, leadership and confidence, but also duty, patience, loyalty, love and dozens of other qualities we now think we "are better than".
  - bigbillheck 3y ago
    > We've become anti-intellectual, iconoclastic, lazy and idolatrous Perfect example of the crisis in education. (We've always been this way.)
    - nonrandomstring 3y ago
      > We've always been this way. That makes it fine then.
      - bigbillheck 3y ago
        Here's another perfect example, you have interpreted an empirical statement as being a normative one.
        nonrandomstring 3y ago
        Flattered as I am about the perfection of my examples, I don't think exchanging dismissive one liners is really advancing the discussion. What shall we do about that?
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  No, the school system is heavily funded. Are TEACHERS heavily funded? Last I checked they still get paid peanuts and need to buy their own material out of that meager income. Maybe, just maybe, the problem won't be solved by throwing more money at administration, but the administratorial class in the US hates hearing that they aren't god's gift to the world.
15457345234 3y ago
Yeah, as I said, the vibe I got from reading their other articles was that their solution to the problem was to pull up the drawbridge, galt's gulch style. I'm reminded of that aspect of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where a civilisation decides that a third of it's population isn't necessary and sticks them on a 'colony ship' telling them that the other two ships are 'still being built' then promptly dies out because they were, in reality, quite necessary. Who'd they ship off, I think it was pest controllers and hairdressers? I forget.
- lmz 3y ago
  > Who'd they ship off, I think it was pest controllers and hairdressers? I forget. The telephone sanitizers.
inglor_cz 3y ago
"Throw more money at X, and X will improve" is a very American way of thinking. There are many more weak points in a complex system such as education than just money. Some weaknesses can indeed be exacerbated by extra money. Giving, say, Acme University more money may well result in hiring of additional vice-provosts for lawn management, to the detriment of the students and faculty themselves.

The best way to combat the competence crisis, proven over centuries, would be to fund public education, yet it’s a curiously absent policy position in their publication (because, ick, taxes).

thaumasiotes 3y ago

Public education is already very heavily funded. As of last report, the correlation between funding and student performance was negative, suggesting that additional funding is unlikely to achieve much.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
Indeed. Money won't solve it. The crisis in education is cultural. It's profound, deep, and I think it will end us more surely than climate change, war or disease. We're heading toward an inability to replicate our own essential cultural DNA, whether in institutions or in common values. We've become anti-intellectual, iconoclastic, lazy and idolatrous - and sadly one cause of this is technology and our misplaced belief in systems rather than human values - in certainty rather than toil. "Competence" is a jolly complex thing. It's more than the ability to pull levers and operate systems that someone else put in place. It involves transcendent thinking, leadership and confidence, but also duty, patience, loyalty, love and dozens of other qualities we now think we "are better than".
- bigbillheck 3y ago
  > We've become anti-intellectual, iconoclastic, lazy and idolatrous Perfect example of the crisis in education. (We've always been this way.)
  - nonrandomstring 3y ago
    > We've always been this way. That makes it fine then.
    - bigbillheck 3y ago
      Here's another perfect example, you have interpreted an empirical statement as being a normative one.
      - nonrandomstring 3y ago
        Flattered as I am about the perfection of my examples, I don't think exchanging dismissive one liners is really advancing the discussion. What shall we do about that?
mrguyorama 3y ago
No, the school system is heavily funded. Are TEACHERS heavily funded? Last I checked they still get paid peanuts and need to buy their own material out of that meager income. Maybe, just maybe, the problem won't be solved by throwing more money at administration, but the administratorial class in the US hates hearing that they aren't god's gift to the world.

15457345234 3y ago

Yeah, as I said, the vibe I got from reading their other articles was that their solution to the problem was to pull up the drawbridge, galt's gulch style. I'm reminded of that aspect of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where a civilisation decides that a third of it's population isn't necessary and sticks them on a 'colony ship' telling them that the other two ships are 'still being built' then promptly dies out because they were, in reality, quite necessary. Who'd they ship off, I think it was pest controllers and hairdressers? I forget.

lmz 3y ago
> Who'd they ship off, I think it was pest controllers and hairdressers? I forget. The telephone sanitizers.

inglor_cz 3y ago

"Throw more money at X, and X will improve" is a very American way of thinking. There are many more weak points in a complex system such as education than just money. Some weaknesses can indeed be exacerbated by extra money. Giving, say, Acme University more money may well result in hiring of additional vice-provosts for lawn management, to the detriment of the students and faculty themselves.