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There's always some dumb "futuristic" education/health solution when countless of countries do it better than the USA in both of these and they didn't have some

by rsoto2 2y ago

There's always some dumb "futuristic" education/health solution when countless of countries do it better than the USA in both of these and they didn't have some big tech douchebag running the show. FUND education. Elect people that care about community and education not profits and reducing taxes for the rich(majority of both Rs and Ds) We live in a society, we are supposed to act civilized first, then throw AI tech solutions at problems. The problem is we do not act civilized, at least rich people and corps don't and rob society of basic funding. Look at food in schools big corps have regulatory capture and can put whatever shit in front of kids and get a stamp from the FDA. Unregulated hyper-concentration of wealth is going to look like and endless funnel to the richer classes and education won't get better even if you can throw some cheap ollama based tools at it.

debacle 2y ago
We fund both education and healthcare at a much higher rate than the rest of the developed world. Funding is unequivocally not the problem.
donatj 2y ago
I don't think the problem is lack of funds. I live in the same district I attended thirty years ago, and my daughter will soon attend. It's a very well-to-do district, and funding per student is comparatively through the roof. Every kid has their own laptop. Small class sizes, smaller than when I attended. Smart boards and all that jazz. Test scores and the graduation rate have significantly decreased since I attended. The problem is more fundamental than lack of funds. It's what we're teaching and how. Throwing money at the problem blindly has not helped.
- rayiner 2y ago
  Baltimore spends more money per student than the rich suburb where I grew up. But the school district is probably run worse than the one in the Bangladeshi village where my dad grew up. At least in my dad’s village there is a motivating fear because there is no welfare state to support these kids after they learn nothing in school: https://katv.com/news/nation-world/23-baltimore-schools-have-zero-students-proficient-in-math-state-test-results-reveal-maryland-comprehensive-assessment-program-department-of-education-statistics-school-failures https://katv.com/news/nation-world/23-baltimore-schools-have...
card_zero 2y ago
Standardization isn't reduced when a thing is publicly funded and everybody has a stake in fighting over how it works.
rayiner 2y ago
> FUND education. Elect people that care about community and education not profits and reducing taxes for the rich(majority of both Rs and Ds) Your post is, in a nutshell, why American education will never be fixed. The U.S. funds education really well. Inflation-adjusted per student spending is up 34% since 2002: https://reason.org/commentary/four-takeaways-from-the-u-s-census-bureaus-latest-school-finance-data https://reason.org/commentary/four-takeaways-from-the-u-s-ce.... It has tripled since 1970. But test scores haven’t budged at all! I grew up in one of the most affluent suburbs in the country. My dad once ran into Dick Cheney at our local CVS. Per-student spending when I graduated high school in 2002 was about $16,500 in today’s dollars. The average per-student spending in the U.S. today is $18,900. Is the average school in the U.S. today better than the one I went to growing up? Absolutely not. Funding is simply not the problem with American education. The biggest problem is probably the quality of the students, followed closely by the quality of the people willing to become teachers.
- totallymike 2y ago
  So you’re saying that the problem with education is not funding, structural inequality, uneven or poor curriculum, or any number of other realistic complaints about American education. It’s simply that the kids are bad. I mean, rock-solid take, I guess. Don’t bother trying to improve, folks, these kids don’t deserve it. Assuming we rule out blindingly stupid arguments, perhaps we could ask if the distribution of that average funding might have something to do with the problem? Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t really serve to illustrate that education across the whole country is fine and of similar quality.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    > So you’re saying that the problem with education is not funding, structural inequality, uneven or poor curriculum, or any number of other realistic complaints about American education. It’s simply that the kids are bad. Those aren’t “realistic complaints” about education, as distinguished from my “unrealistic” ones. Those are simply the factors you assume must explain observed educational differences given your worldview. For most people who think this way, evidence won’t change their mind because it’s these factors that must be the explanation for their worldview to make sense. The distribution of funding across the country is not a problem in most places. Some of the worst school districts spend the most money. The affluent school district where I grew up spends $19,750 per student per year. Baltimore spends $22,400 per year. Chicago is at $29,000. Detroit is at $28,000. Portland spends almost $49,000 per student.

by rsoto2 2y ago

debacle 2y ago

We fund both education and healthcare at a much higher rate than the rest of the developed world. Funding is unequivocally not the problem.

donatj 2y ago

I don't think the problem is lack of funds. I live in the same district I attended thirty years ago, and my daughter will soon attend. It's a very well-to-do district, and funding per student is comparatively through the roof. Every kid has their own laptop. Small class sizes, smaller than when I attended. Smart boards and all that jazz. Test scores and the graduation rate have significantly decreased since I attended. The problem is more fundamental than lack of funds. It's what we're teaching and how. Throwing money at the problem blindly has not helped.

rayiner 2y ago
Baltimore spends more money per student than the rich suburb where I grew up. But the school district is probably run worse than the one in the Bangladeshi village where my dad grew up. At least in my dad’s village there is a motivating fear because there is no welfare state to support these kids after they learn nothing in school: https://katv.com/news/nation-world/23-baltimore-schools-have-zero-students-proficient-in-math-state-test-results-reveal-maryland-comprehensive-assessment-program-department-of-education-statistics-school-failures https://katv.com/news/nation-world/23-baltimore-schools-have...

card_zero 2y ago

Standardization isn't reduced when a thing is publicly funded and everybody has a stake in fighting over how it works.

rayiner 2y ago

> FUND education. Elect people that care about community and education not profits and reducing taxes for the rich(majority of both Rs and Ds) Your post is, in a nutshell, why American education will never be fixed. The U.S. funds education really well. Inflation-adjusted per student spending is up 34% since 2002: https://reason.org/commentary/four-takeaways-from-the-u-s-census-bureaus-latest-school-finance-data https://reason.org/commentary/four-takeaways-from-the-u-s-ce.... It has tripled since 1970. But test scores haven’t budged at all! I grew up in one of the most affluent suburbs in the country. My dad once ran into Dick Cheney at our local CVS. Per-student spending when I graduated high school in 2002 was about $16,500 in today’s dollars. The average per-student spending in the U.S. today is $18,900. Is the average school in the U.S. today better than the one I went to growing up? Absolutely not. Funding is simply not the problem with American education. The biggest problem is probably the quality of the students, followed closely by the quality of the people willing to become teachers.

totallymike 2y ago
So you’re saying that the problem with education is not funding, structural inequality, uneven or poor curriculum, or any number of other realistic complaints about American education. It’s simply that the kids are bad. I mean, rock-solid take, I guess. Don’t bother trying to improve, folks, these kids don’t deserve it. Assuming we rule out blindingly stupid arguments, perhaps we could ask if the distribution of that average funding might have something to do with the problem? Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t really serve to illustrate that education across the whole country is fine and of similar quality.
- rayiner 2y ago
  > So you’re saying that the problem with education is not funding, structural inequality, uneven or poor curriculum, or any number of other realistic complaints about American education. It’s simply that the kids are bad. Those aren’t “realistic complaints” about education, as distinguished from my “unrealistic” ones. Those are simply the factors you assume must explain observed educational differences given your worldview. For most people who think this way, evidence won’t change their mind because it’s these factors that must be the explanation for their worldview to make sense. The distribution of funding across the country is not a problem in most places. Some of the worst school districts spend the most money. The affluent school district where I grew up spends $19,750 per student per year. Baltimore spends $22,400 per year. Chicago is at $29,000. Detroit is at $28,000. Portland spends almost $49,000 per student.