US schools lay off hundreds of thousands • Hacker News Board

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#41

Post by MattGaiser » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:01 AM UTC

tengbretson wrote: post #25

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.

> where almost all human knowledge is available online for free

And it has been so for nearly 20 years and changed very little. MOOCs are a failure as people will not finish them. Online certificates carry no weight with employers even if people do.

We have promising prototypes of self driving trucks. We don't have such models for education.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#42

Post by nameless912 » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:01 AM UTC

mysticpipuo wrote: post #36

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.

When you or your loved ones or your friends are devastated by the layoffs and shutdown. When you are hurting and frustrated by everything that’s going on. Just remember. It’s the Chinese government that did this.

Oh fuck off with this xenophobic bullshit.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#43

Post by a4wtaw4tawtawt » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

malwarebytess wrote: post #34

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.

>Could someone not make the same argument about the national defense? The US's definition of National Defense is actually playing world police for corporate profit. With that in mind it shows that they are superficially similar only.

post like it's 2003?

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#44

Post by horsemessiah » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 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.

You wouldn't believe this if you didn't grow up in a stable home.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#45

Post by paulvorobyev » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

tengbretson wrote: post #25

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.

It's almost as if pedagogy is a deep and rich field and you can't as easily absorb information without the guidance of a knowledgeable mentor. Who would have thought?

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#46

Post by lettergram » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

npunt wrote: post #38

avsteele wrote: post #22

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.

This just places even more burden on teachers to do everything. This is like keeping the troops but removing the supply lines.

Except, the janitors and / or lunch servers can be hired within a couple weeks and don't require training. Teachers are harder to hire because they have expertise, unions, and have years of experience.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#47

Post by tyre » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #30

Spartan-S63 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A large majority of the current US government is made up of things outside the constitution as written. The underpinning of most government agencies is the commerce clause, and even then there is a question of whether Congress delegating to administrative agencies is constitutional.

For example, the FCC, the FDA, the FAA—these powers aren't in the constitution and I'm not saying that because there weren't cell phones or airplanes in 1789.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#48

Post by bradly » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:02 AM UTC

I live in San Diego and this is sadly just more of the same. Public schools cut non-essential programs and then PTAs in upper and upper-middle class neighborhoods raise money from parents to add those programs back to their specific school. When time comes to vote on taxes to increase education budget, they are confused, as the public school system in San Diego is working great for them and their community.

You shouldn’t be able to tell the income level of a neighborhood simply by looking at a picture of a public school, but in San Diego county, that is absolutely the case.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#49

Post by themagician » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:03 AM UTC

mysticpipuo wrote: post #36

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.

When you or your loved ones or your friends are devastated by the layoffs and shutdown. When you are hurting and frustrated by everything that’s going on. Just remember. It’s the Chinese government that did this.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#50

Post by AuthorizedCust » Fri, Jun 05, 2020, 3:03 AM UTC

mjmahone17 wrote: post #28

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 thei…

School district boundaries depend on the state. All school districts in Texas that actually run schools--except for one--are completely independent of cities and counties. Their boundaries are completely unrelated to city or county boundaries.