TimPC

33 ms·

691.
by TimPC 5y ago
I think we are moving well outside the Overton window with your example though. The specific things being balanced in this case are a quality improvement in a specific student's education against a resource necessary for a student to
692.
by TimPC 5y ago
Depends what you're using the WFH number for. If you want to extend it to an argument about being able to live substantially further from a job then needing to meet a GC on site some of the time is a dealbreaker. I think it's fa
693.
by TimPC 5y ago
The coding used by this survey is a joke. If 40% of an occupation says they work outdoors that's below 50% so it's bucketed into the work from home category on that criterion. I think if even 20% of a job is saying they work out
694.
by TimPC 5y ago
In a certain sense everyone is high cost because the Bloom 2-sigma effect says that giving a student one-on-one tutoring instead of other methods of education will move them from the 50th percentile to the 98th percentile. As much as the q
695.
by TimPC 5y ago
Taxes are not a majority program though. The way something like this would end up working is the kids getting 90's in high school and going to top tier engineering programs would happily pony up the money along with a few other demogra
696.
by TimPC 5y ago
I agree this is a case for why what you call flat rate vouchers don't make sense. But what you call flat rate vouchers is also the predominant program of vouchers being advocated for in most policy. When the mainstream discussion mov
697.
by TimPC 5y ago
I have evidence on the main point of the argument which wasn't what I thought you were asking for. It sounded like you were asking about a specific niche use of vouchers for disabled students. There can be merits to a specific vouche
698.
by TimPC 5y ago
I don’t have evidence in the form of research or empirical data but I’m happy to talk from my own experiences. Genuine empathy comes from a place of understanding and is almost impossible without seeing one’s struggles. I also think student
699.
by TimPC 5y ago
I’d suggest you try and look for more mainstream academic studies. American Progress is basically the left wing version of the Heritage Foundation as you highlight. Like the Heritage Foundation their activism often clouds their research to
700.
by TimPC 5y ago
Are you in part of the majority of the US where the bulk of education funding comes from local taxpayers in the form of property taxes? It’s the combination of that funding mechanism with OE that I view as dangerous. If you’re in one of the
701.
by TimPC 5y ago
Yes. Vouchers are a scam if the dollar amount is insufficiently granular in ways that benefit those taking them at the expense of those who don’t. Most voucher programs aren’t targeting or benefiting any of the groups you highlight as the g
702.
by TimPC 5y ago
While some vouchers are based on this data shared elsewhere in this thread indicated that most are not. Outsourcing disabled kids to a specialized school has a number of disadvantages and is not a program I would broadly support. I think th
703.
by TimPC 5y ago
If we take that argument to the extreme then people without kids shouldn’t pay school taxes at all. Fundamentally I don’t think that is how the system should work. There is something unfair about parents paying once through taxation and aga
704.
by TimPC 5y ago
This would certainly help as the majority of low cost kids would have cost similar to the 50th percentile. I think this isn’t a general fix though and only works in this case because of the nature of the data distribution.
705.
by TimPC 5y ago
Thanks for sharing this it’s helpful. A quick look shows that in most states the % of what the local school would get is high. It’s still fundamentally a program that makes a lot of assumptions that low cost students cost more than they act
706.
by TimPC 5y ago
There are similarities undoubtedly. I think the major difference is the source of the distorted subsidy. In the market for lemons bad cars are subsidized by people thinking they might be good ones. In the voucher system low cost students ar
707.
by TimPC 5y ago
Means tested doesn’t mean only available to high cost students. Means tested means available only to certain income demographics. A high cost student in the essay is someone who costs more to educate for instance a special needs student who
708.
by TimPC 5y ago
I agree vouchers may make sense in small towns where it’s not cost effective to have an education system at all. I think the town is relying on it’s smallness to avoid costs relating to special needs though and will run into substantial cha
709.
by TimPC 5y ago
I think the coalition of private school voters is incredibly small relative to public school ones. There is a much larger block of voters to oppose measures that cost the system money than there is to support measures that save private scho
710.
by TimPC 5y ago
Education is a fundamental human right. It needs to be provided to all, including those who can’t afford to pay for it. I view providing it as more important than maintaining some abstract right to non-taxation. Plenty of systems that are s
711.
by TimPC 5y ago
I have sympathy for kids whose parents are awful but we will have to disagree on what the real scam is. I think the inherent cost disease and misleading nature of current voucher programs is far more pernicious than the fact that some users
712.
by TimPC 5y ago
You’d have to have evidence that the small vouchers changed behaviour enough that the uptick in private school enrolment gave enough reduced costs to the system to pay for the small vouchers for all the people who are already in private sch
713.
by TimPC 5y ago
I’d love to hear which aspects of the medical system you think work this way. I’m looking for other examples to write the broader essay on understanding averages but I’m not completely sure which particular issue you mean here.
714.
by TimPC 5y ago
This is an interesting point of debate. The question is whether the $3000 saved on the new students electing for private schools is larger or smaller than the cost of providing the $3000 benefit to all individuals already in private schools
715.
by TimPC 5y ago
There is a potential benefit to them for having smaller vouchers. But such a program would need to be framed as such and the merits of that program would need to be debated. Current voucher programs use the artificially inflated size of the
716.
by TimPC 5y ago
I think the trade off being evaluated is the damage to the public system against the benefit of choice that a voucher provides. $0 vouchers minimize damage to the system which is fairer to low-income individuals compared to vouchers that ar
717.
by TimPC 5y ago
I wanted to post this essay to HN because I think the specific mechanism of how averages hide highs and lows is of interest to a technology community. Vouchers are one instance of this problem but I am confident there are many others hiding
718.
The voucher scam: Are we too mathematically illiterate to notice(pastebin.com)
81 points by TimPC 5y ago|85 comments
719.
by TimPC 5y ago
I think the follow-on effects of delocalizing schools can be pernicious. In the extreme case you can look at districts in Vermont and Massachusetts where some towns provide vouchers to other education systems instead of having one themselve
720.
by TimPC 5y ago
I wonder if liability for brain damage due to certain popular sports will end up being a factor. The fund the NFL set aside was rather expensive and it’s quite clear colleges will soon be required to do the same. Football has long been rega

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