US schools lay off hundreds of thousands • Hacker News Board

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#21

Post by rantwasp » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:52 AM UTC

wmf wrote: post #16

rantwasp wrote: post #9

it’s puzzling to me since I don’t understand who is going to replace the teachers. how is this going to work? also I feel like the priorities are totally wrong. on one side we invest in things that don’t matter or are harmful. on another we screw people that have a meaningful contribution to society

The article says class sizes will double. But since classes will be through Zoom, teachers can just mute students who misbehave!

so we’re gonna have 2 failures. doubling the class size and remote “learning”. what a mess

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#22

Post by avsteele » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:52 AM UTC

Title: about teachers. Anecdotes: about teachers.

Buried in the article: Susanna Loeb, a professor of education at Brown University, said she believes most of the 469,000 laid off in April were non-teacher personnel, as districts tend to fire teachers last

If schools aren't open, a lot of janitorial, cafeteria worker, etc... are probably being laid off.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#23

Post by throwaway1777 » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:53 AM UTC

teruakohatu wrote: post #13

viburnum wrote: post #2

You know who’s not laying off anyone? The military. Local funding of schools is ridiculous. Education benefits the whole nation. Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions.

Are you an American (I am a New Zealander) but my understanding is that the military is the responsibility of the federal government and the federal government is not laying off workers. Meanwhile teachers are funded and employed by state and local government. It is apples to oranges. The argument should be who should employ and fund teachers and if the States are willing to give up some control and taxation to the f…

This is mostly correct although some schools do receive federal funding.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#24

Post by buzzkillington » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:53 AM UTC

tyree731 wrote: post #4

viburnum wrote: post #2

You know who’s not laying off anyone? The military. Local funding of schools is ridiculous. Education benefits the whole nation. Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions.

> Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions. Could someone not make the same argument about the national defense? Education is funded largely by local taxes, and local tax revenues are being gutted, so there isn't much that can be done here without nationalizing public education.

>Education is funded largely by local taxes, and local tax revenues are being gutted, so there isn't much that can be done here without nationalizing public education.

This should be the case. Having each state decide it's education is in the long term more dangerous than having each state have it's own army.

Imagine if half the country had textbooks that made the Confederates out to be misguided but well meaning... oh wait.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#25

Post by tengbretson » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:53 AM UTC

It's odd to me that there is this bizarre certainty on hacker news that within 20 years the most common occupation, truck driving, will be nearly entirely obsolete, yet in an era where almost all human knowledge is available online for free, the idea that the education apparatus will either stay the same or continue to grow is somehow a given.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#26

Post by eanzenberg » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:54 AM UTC

Open up already. The lockdown has been a sham, with scientists and researchers already acknowledging no difference between areas that locked down and areas that didn’t.

Enough is enough. How much more suffering does the world need to endure over bad models and bad policy.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#27

Post by Spartan-S63 » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:54 AM UTC

tyree731 wrote: post #4

viburnum wrote: post #2

You know who’s not laying off anyone? The military. Local funding of schools is ridiculous. Education benefits the whole nation. Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions.

> Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions. Could someone not make the same argument about the national defense? Education is funded largely by local taxes, and local tax revenues are being gutted, so there isn't much that can be done here without nationalizing public education.

I don't think we should be opposed to nationalizing education. A common curriculum would help mobility when it comes to families moving across state lines. It would also ensure uniform funding and plentiful opportunities to poorer and rural schools.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#28

Post by mjmahone17 » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:56 AM UTC

achn wrote: post #3

Wait, public schools for children are not funded by the government in the US?

They are, but at a hyper local level. School districts generally coincide loosely with city boundaries, and are usually funded through a combination of local taxes (usually property taxes, but it depends on the district), state education budgets, and a small amount of federal funding.

Because the bulk of the funding comes from local sources, when a local economy collapses the school district has no backstop, and their funding can get much closer to just the state and federal funds. When states reduce budgets due to those same economic issues, those areas get devastated.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#29

Post by throwgeorge » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:56 AM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #19

In some ways I view this as an opportunity for society. I would be happy to have a return to decentralized schooling or alternate models with more choice, rather than a one size fits all model that is increasingly being co-opted by political actors to propagandize children with certain views or values.

[dead]

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#30

Post by imgabe » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 2:57 AM UTC

Spartan-S63 wrote: post #27

tyree731 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Educational investments shouldn’t be dictated by transient economic conditions. Could someone not make the same argument about the national defense? Education is funded largely by local taxes, and local tax revenues are being gutted, so there isn't much that can be done here without nationalizing public education.

I don't think we should be opposed to nationalizing education. A common curriculum would help mobility when it comes to families moving across state lines. It would also ensure uniform funding and plentiful opportunities to poorer and rural schools.

Maybe, but it would require a constitutional amendment to enact. The Constitution is explicit about which powers the Federal government has and everything else is delegated to the states. Education is not one of them.