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The question everyone should be asking is: Why is it that schools are failing us in dramatic ways? School choice is a reaction to a problem. If public school

The question everyone should be asking is: Why is it that schools are failing us in dramatic ways? School choice is a reaction to a problem. If public schools were excellent, most parent would ever look for alternatives. Of course, there are always people who prefer private school. I get it. I went to both private and public schools from K-12, in two countries. My experience was that US public school education (Massachusetts) from several decades ago was seriously deficient when compared to schooling in a Latin American (Argentina) system. I was far better prepared, across the board, with a classical education, to the point that my classmates in the US seemed, well, pretty ignorant and incapable. What's terrible is that the situation in the US has likely degraded significantly over the decades. My kids have been through the public system in CA. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that, had it not been for a significant amount of learning at home --across a range of subjects-- they would have come out unprepared for the real world. It's that bad. I can only imagine how much worse it likely is in less affluent neighborhoods. It must be absolutely terrible. These topics, for me, always come back to the same issue: Our government failing us across a wide range of verticals. Be it healthcare, safety, education and just plain intelligent progress, their score card is mediocrity at best and, quite often, abject incompetence. Earlier today I was reading about the Department of Transportation only building 7 or 8 EV charging stations with a program funded in 2021 to the tune of $7.5 billion dollars. A similar thing has happened in CA with the sad (and expensive) joke the high speed rail project has become. At some point voters need to start understanding that the people we are voting for and hiring to work for us could not give one flying turd about any of us, our kids, our safety, our health and wellbeing. They are all political animals interested in the riches to be had through party affiliation and warfare. Nothing else matters. Nothing. And this is how we get here; to a point where we spend insane amounts of money per student in K-12 and end-up with results bested by third world countries. How you vote matters. And some of these decisions have generational effects.

musicale 2y ago
> Why is it that schools are failing us in dramatic ways? Do you have some ideas as to the answer(s)? Is it simply a matter of adopting a better educational approach that has been shown to work in another country, or would that also fail in the US?
- hedora 2y ago
  From dealing with our public school, two things are clear: They do not base changes to the curriculum or teaching methods on evidence. They could roll stuff out at a few schools, measure impact, and only expand the best programs, but instead they make changes based on what is fashionable that year, with predictably bad results. School funding (at least in California) has been diverted somewhere else. I’m not sure where it goes exactly (education income taxes are supposedly earmarked at the state level, and the education fraction of our local property taxes must be spent outside our district — I’ve seen the district budget, and know how many houses it serves). Anyway, K-12 is embarrassingly underfunded, especially given how rich this state is. As a side effect, there isn’t funding for enrichment programs, and the school mostly just focuses on behavior problems instead of academics. Some of the kids that act out the most are clearly smart and bored.
  - donor20 2y ago
    School funding is diverted from classrooms but still goes to education. State superintendent level takes a cut down to county superintendents and programs down to local school district superintendent / admin / consultants. If a private school did 35 kids in a class paying 35K (that's 1.2 million per class) they'd have teacher aids and amazing everything . State budget act in CA is 23k per student. Wealthy areas for another 5-10k. We have an amazing teacher fighting insane classroom ratios and requirements. At 1m a class it shouldn't be like that.
- anamax 2y ago
  Is it a surprise that US schools do what they are rewarded for doing, that they don't do what they are not rewarded for doing?
- robomartin 2y ago
  > Do you have some ideas as to the answer(s)? From my perspective, part of the issues is the turning of education into a political battleground. On top of that add the fact that K-12 schools in the US are run by thousands of unionized little kingdoms, each with their own agenda. And, of course, the almost total lack of meritocracy or evolutionary pressure in elevating capable teachers and administrators to what is, perhaps, the most important job in the nation. Quick example: We live in a fairly nice area. When one of my kids was in middle school, the science teacher was this guy who was a Chiropractor when he wasn't at the school. Let's call him Dr. Z. Dr. Z got angry at kids when they asked questions. He asked them to write them down on a piece of paper and leave them on his desk and never to interrupt him. He would answer the questions next class, or never. Dr. Z is a moron. I say "is" because he has been in this school district for some 30 years and is likely to milk it for all he can. Dr. Z taught the kids that the moon does not spin on its axis...it is stationary...because we only see one side of it. Dr. Z, is a moron. I always talk to my kids about school, both to be informed and to undo the damage. After many examples of this I called a meeting with the Principal and Dr. Z and proceeded to read both of them the riot act. They did not give a shit. Not one bit. Neither one could be fired for delivering false and shit education. We were able to undo the damage at home. I am sure lots of families did not and had no clue what was going on. This is a problem. One of many. Dr. Z, objectively speaking, should not be anywhere near kids or teaching science. Yet, the broken system we have protects him and will pay him a pension for life when he finally retires. And like him, many more. There's a lot more to unwind there. I don't have the time to do it. The way we vote matters. The consequences of voting for the wrong people can be generational.

musicale 2y ago

> Why is it that schools are failing us in dramatic ways? Do you have some ideas as to the answer(s)? Is it simply a matter of adopting a better educational approach that has been shown to work in another country, or would that also fail in the US?

hedora 2y ago
From dealing with our public school, two things are clear: They do not base changes to the curriculum or teaching methods on evidence. They could roll stuff out at a few schools, measure impact, and only expand the best programs, but instead they make changes based on what is fashionable that year, with predictably bad results. School funding (at least in California) has been diverted somewhere else. I’m not sure where it goes exactly (education income taxes are supposedly earmarked at the state level, and the education fraction of our local property taxes must be spent outside our district — I’ve seen the district budget, and know how many houses it serves). Anyway, K-12 is embarrassingly underfunded, especially given how rich this state is. As a side effect, there isn’t funding for enrichment programs, and the school mostly just focuses on behavior problems instead of academics. Some of the kids that act out the most are clearly smart and bored.
- donor20 2y ago
  School funding is diverted from classrooms but still goes to education. State superintendent level takes a cut down to county superintendents and programs down to local school district superintendent / admin / consultants. If a private school did 35 kids in a class paying 35K (that's 1.2 million per class) they'd have teacher aids and amazing everything . State budget act in CA is 23k per student. Wealthy areas for another 5-10k. We have an amazing teacher fighting insane classroom ratios and requirements. At 1m a class it shouldn't be like that.
anamax 2y ago
Is it a surprise that US schools do what they are rewarded for doing, that they don't do what they are not rewarded for doing?
robomartin 2y ago
> Do you have some ideas as to the answer(s)? From my perspective, part of the issues is the turning of education into a political battleground. On top of that add the fact that K-12 schools in the US are run by thousands of unionized little kingdoms, each with their own agenda. And, of course, the almost total lack of meritocracy or evolutionary pressure in elevating capable teachers and administrators to what is, perhaps, the most important job in the nation. Quick example: We live in a fairly nice area. When one of my kids was in middle school, the science teacher was this guy who was a Chiropractor when he wasn't at the school. Let's call him Dr. Z. Dr. Z got angry at kids when they asked questions. He asked them to write them down on a piece of paper and leave them on his desk and never to interrupt him. He would answer the questions next class, or never. Dr. Z is a moron. I say "is" because he has been in this school district for some 30 years and is likely to milk it for all he can. Dr. Z taught the kids that the moon does not spin on its axis...it is stationary...because we only see one side of it. Dr. Z, is a moron. I always talk to my kids about school, both to be informed and to undo the damage. After many examples of this I called a meeting with the Principal and Dr. Z and proceeded to read both of them the riot act. They did not give a shit. Not one bit. Neither one could be fired for delivering false and shit education. We were able to undo the damage at home. I am sure lots of families did not and had no clue what was going on. This is a problem. One of many. Dr. Z, objectively speaking, should not be anywhere near kids or teaching science. Yet, the broken system we have protects him and will pay him a pension for life when he finally retires. And like him, many more. There's a lot more to unwind there. I don't have the time to do it. The way we vote matters. The consequences of voting for the wrong people can be generational.