←back to thread

346 points obscurette | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.209s | source
Show context
basilgohar ◴[] No.42116662[source]

As someone who's worked in EdTech for around two decades, I know why people think this. It's what a lot people here have already said. Education is what is failing, EdTech didn't magically solve this. Just like money, you can't just throw tech at education and expect it to solve anything.

There are too many profitable incentives to poor education that are conspiring to perpetuate it. An ill-educated populace is easier to manipulate, gravitate towards consumerism, and won't hold their leaders as accountable. Power generally resides with those who benefit from an ill-educated populace, so anything that would actually help educate children and people at large is discouraged.

I'll repeat what others have said here. Giving teachers the means with which to properly work with their students, and investing in students at a more individual level, is what's needed. Sadly, my refrain with regards to public education is that is has become little more than glorified babysitting. Those that succeed do so in spite of the system, and not because of it. Meanwhile, students that suffer from one or more disadvantagements (poverty, disability, social issues, mental or physical health issues, and so much more) tend to just...suffer more. And then they fall into cycles where preventable issues repeat or enhance into the next generation. They'll still spend all of their little income excessively, so profit is still to be had, or they'll end-up in prison, which, again, thanks to privatization, is also immensely profitable, so no problem there, right?

The system is setup to fail because that's what's profitable in the long run for those seeking such profits. And because they can lobby, and use their wealth to influence politics, it won't change. Something else needs to happen first.

replies(8): >>42116816 #>>42116833 #>>42116938 #>>42117033 #>>42117054 #>>42117300 #>>42117727 #>>42117746 #
1. kortilla ◴[] No.42117033[source]

I don’t think this is the case for several core reasons:

- higher income people spend more money. The middle and upper class is by far the largest market and source of tax revenue.

- poverty generally turns areas into low trust higher theft spots that need expensive security.

- high income places generally have good public schools because a majority do know how important education is

- this requires a pretty vast conspiracy of people saying “keep people dumb so we can profit”, which I haven’t heard of at all

I think the much simpler explanation is that there is no accountability for inept pockets in the education system. Schools can’t really be punished for sucking and parents can’t move their kids in most states without just switching to private. There is no feedback loop for broken schools.