4 ms·

I like this idea as a general concept, but I just don't know how well it would work in the US. Schools in the US are already locally controlled to a great exten

by glesica 13y ago

I like this idea as a general concept, but I just don't know how well it would work in the US. Schools in the US are already locally controlled to a great extent, yet most are still under-funded. If people really wanted to spend more on education, why don't they vote to raise their own property taxes? If they think the schools are being run poorly, why don't they get involved with the school boards and make changes? I realize there are many entrenched interests here (unions, textbook companies, and many more), but those same entrenched interests would fight against importing the South Korean system. I also dislike the idea of kids going to school twice. From what I understand, research has shown that kids need more free time, not more time sitting in lectures, at least younger children. Additionally, the SK system seems like it would double-penalize low-income families since their children often need to get jobs in high school. So not only can't they afford the best tutors, their kids wouldn't have time to sleep!

rdouble 13y ago
If people really wanted to spend more on education, why don't they vote to raise their own property taxes? If they think the schools are being run poorly, why don't they get involved with the school boards and make changes? "Asian" educational models will never work in the USA. You can't convince middle America to pay more for teachers and/or enroll their kids in programs that involve hard academic work. After school academic programs are crazy, only for obsessed nerds. When would they have time for football practice? This model only works in American communities with large Asian populations. It partially works in low income communities in which the main benefit is keeping the kids away from their screwed up home life. This is a bit off topic, though. The article is about a guy who makes money off of video lectures. Americans do pay money for videos of things they care about, such as losing weight or improving their golf stroke. Only a small subset of the population would pay for academic tutoring videos.
caseysoftware 13y ago
"If people really wanted to spend more on education, why don't they vote to raise their own property taxes?" They can vote for more funding all they want, but they know the funding can go anywhere once it's approved. For example, in 2012 Prop 30 in California was supposed to go to the education system.. turns out it went to cover bad investments and otherwise non-education expenses racked up elsewhere: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/18/Surprise-California-Education-Tax-Hike-Will-Go-To-Wall-Street-Cronies http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/18/Surprise-... If you want to make sure your money goes somewhere, you need to spend it on that.
- glesica 13y ago
  That's why I only addressed local property taxes. Local people have more control when the scope of government in question is smaller. A single town raising its own taxes to pay for its own schools is unlikely to run into as many problems. I know this works, because this is what people did where I grew up. Will it work everywhere? No, that was part of my point. Many people just don't value education enough to spend more money on it than they absolutely must. Another thing to keep in mind. The article says that "students are the customers". But this is false. Parents are the customers. So what you've got to compare is South Korean parents and American parents.
rayiner 13y ago
Schools are not underfunded. The U.S spends more per capita on education than pretty much everyone: http://rossieronline.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-infographic http://rossieronline.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-..., twice as much as South Korea.
- jmduke 13y ago
  This is true, but I think the U.S.' education spending doesn't just go towards academics but extracurricular activities (sports, the arts, dances/events, facilities + infrastructure) to an extent further than that of other countries.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    The extra spending mostly goes to services for special needs students, followed by inflated salaries for administrators, then programs for the poor, like school lunches and school nurses, then infrastructure. Dances/events are usually funded by fundraisers. Although an exorbitant amount of money is spent on sports, they also have a lot of funding from booster clubs and fundraisers. Schools do get stuck paying for extra sports staff, and sports facilities. Sometimes a wealthy donor will spring for a giant football field. That actually sets a bad precedent, because then neighboring towns feel they need to spend more on their sports facilities. Arts and music programs receive almost no money from any source and are cut every year.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    Sports at schools mostly pay for themselves (usually with football subsidizing all the other ones). Dances and events are usually not paid out of official school funds, but rather money raised by PTA's. I don't know why U.S. facilities would cost more than those in other countries.
    - rdouble 13y ago
      US schools usually include sports facilities which are very expensive. My sister moved to Australia, which is about as similar to the US as it gets for a foreign country, and the schools have no equivalent of a Texas football stadium or Minnesota hockey arena. I don't think there is any other country that spends so much on public school facilities.
muzz 13y ago
The article is not about funding levels of schools. As the second sentence says, Mr.Kim works in "private, after-school tutoring academies"
russellsprouts 13y ago
Washington State withholds Federal education money from schools and instead puts it in the general fund. We don't get a choice to improve the schools with more funding, we get a choice to raise local taxes for school funding, or dissolve the school into another district.

by glesica 13y ago

rdouble 13y ago

If people really wanted to spend more on education, why don't they vote to raise their own property taxes? If they think the schools are being run poorly, why don't they get involved with the school boards and make changes? "Asian" educational models will never work in the USA. You can't convince middle America to pay more for teachers and/or enroll their kids in programs that involve hard academic work. After school academic programs are crazy, only for obsessed nerds. When would they have time for football practice? This model only works in American communities with large Asian populations. It partially works in low income communities in which the main benefit is keeping the kids away from their screwed up home life. This is a bit off topic, though. The article is about a guy who makes money off of video lectures. Americans do pay money for videos of things they care about, such as losing weight or improving their golf stroke. Only a small subset of the population would pay for academic tutoring videos.

caseysoftware 13y ago

"If people really wanted to spend more on education, why don't they vote to raise their own property taxes?" They can vote for more funding all they want, but they know the funding can go anywhere once it's approved. For example, in 2012 Prop 30 in California was supposed to go to the education system.. turns out it went to cover bad investments and otherwise non-education expenses racked up elsewhere: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/18/Surprise-California-Education-Tax-Hike-Will-Go-To-Wall-Street-Cronies http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/18/Surprise-... If you want to make sure your money goes somewhere, you need to spend it on that.

glesica 13y ago
That's why I only addressed local property taxes. Local people have more control when the scope of government in question is smaller. A single town raising its own taxes to pay for its own schools is unlikely to run into as many problems. I know this works, because this is what people did where I grew up. Will it work everywhere? No, that was part of my point. Many people just don't value education enough to spend more money on it than they absolutely must. Another thing to keep in mind. The article says that "students are the customers". But this is false. Parents are the customers. So what you've got to compare is South Korean parents and American parents.

rayiner 13y ago

Schools are not underfunded. The U.S spends more per capita on education than pretty much everyone: http://rossieronline.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-infographic http://rossieronline.usc.edu/u-s-education-versus-the-world-..., twice as much as South Korea.

jmduke 13y ago
This is true, but I think the U.S.' education spending doesn't just go towards academics but extracurricular activities (sports, the arts, dances/events, facilities + infrastructure) to an extent further than that of other countries.
- rdouble 13y ago
  The extra spending mostly goes to services for special needs students, followed by inflated salaries for administrators, then programs for the poor, like school lunches and school nurses, then infrastructure. Dances/events are usually funded by fundraisers. Although an exorbitant amount of money is spent on sports, they also have a lot of funding from booster clubs and fundraisers. Schools do get stuck paying for extra sports staff, and sports facilities. Sometimes a wealthy donor will spring for a giant football field. That actually sets a bad precedent, because then neighboring towns feel they need to spend more on their sports facilities. Arts and music programs receive almost no money from any source and are cut every year.
- rayiner 13y ago
  Sports at schools mostly pay for themselves (usually with football subsidizing all the other ones). Dances and events are usually not paid out of official school funds, but rather money raised by PTA's. I don't know why U.S. facilities would cost more than those in other countries.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    US schools usually include sports facilities which are very expensive. My sister moved to Australia, which is about as similar to the US as it gets for a foreign country, and the schools have no equivalent of a Texas football stadium or Minnesota hockey arena. I don't think there is any other country that spends so much on public school facilities.

muzz 13y ago

The article is not about funding levels of schools. As the second sentence says, Mr.Kim works in "private, after-school tutoring academies"

russellsprouts 13y ago

Washington State withholds Federal education money from schools and instead puts it in the general fund. We don't get a choice to improve the schools with more funding, we get a choice to raise local taxes for school funding, or dissolve the school into another district.