Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 209 posts

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#101

Post by Jaepa »

RhysU wrote: post #54
malwarebytess wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

National Defense is a luxury good until it isn't. Moreover, it is not something that can be purchased on short notice.

The US has the largest military budget in the world. If you combine the military spending of positions 2 - 11, the US still spends 6.4 billion dollars more. And of the those 10 other countries 8 are friendly and 6 are allies.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#103

Post by starik36 »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #85
mhh__ wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Could someone not make the same argument about the national defense? > national defense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_... I'm not as against military spending as some people, but almost 800 billion dollars is too much

How much would be appropriate? What weapons systems should be canceled? Serious question. I would agree that $800B seems ridiculously high, and yet it's not easy to tease apart what should be cut.

Keep in mind that the personnel and benefits take up 39% of the cost.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#104

Post by bradlys »

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.

Maybe I'm out of touch here but what support staff do teachers need when they're teaching remotely? I'd imagine a few administrative staff, maybe some counselors, and that's about it? Maybe I'm completely out of touch since I went to such a poor school that we couldn't even afford 5 days a week (I know a little something about budget cuts).

Janitors, cooks, nurses, even certain types of teachers that rely on in-person instruction (gym, woodshop, metals, etc.), facilities workers, and more are all not particularly needed when online only.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#105

Post by jay_kyburz »

paulvorobyev wrote: post #45
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?

I don't know, after a few months of home schooling, I'm pretty sure that mentor could be an AI.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#106

Post by blueblisters »

dorchadas wrote: post #73
verst wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even shorter term I'd like us to move away from local property taxes being used for local schools. The state government should have a statewide pool of money they allocate to schools based on enrollment numbers, cost of living. This should be sufficiently funded such that teachers can make a living wage in the local school district. Those who don't like this can still send their kids to private schools.

I'm a teacher myself, and I think this is very much needed. Right now, good neighborhoods just get better schools, while bad neighborhoods get worse. It's a horribly vicious circle, and shows even in areas where there's only one school (my county, the 5th biggest in the state, only has 25k people and one high school) if there's a huge amount of poverty (something like 65% of our students are on free or reduced lunch;…

When I moved to the US, this was one of the things that surprised me the most. I found it really odd that my coworkers would look for homes based on how good the schools were in that neighborhood. The fact that all kids don't get equal opportunity makes it feel like a very broken society.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#107

Post by ticviking »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #80
npunt wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about the instructional aides and other staff that do have significant training? And what about the web of relationships formed between the staff and students, including those between the janitors, lunch servers, etc and students? And what about the capacities and institutional knowledge that staff have about school operations? Schools are complex operations, made simple only by those who don't understand th…

janitor-student relationships? server-student relationships?

The lunch lady is a time honored and well known source of wisdom for those who get to know her.

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#109

Post by MattGaiser »

makeitrein wrote: post #58

Just watched Bryan Caplan give a talk about how the majority of our education system's resources are spent towards a "signaling arms race". What once required a high school diploma requires an undergraduate degree. What once required an undergraduate degree requires graduate school. Most of your time spend in school is learning skills that the labor market cares little for. Not wholly convinced by his conclusion that…

I see it as less about signaling and more about proof.

A long time ago, a high school diploma was rigorous enough that people actually failed. A significant number of people did not earn one. Now, I don't even know of a friend of a friend who has failed to earn one, even if they just kept on retaking the courses at relatively easy schools until they passed.

It isn't clear to me what holding a high school diploma indicates about a person anymore simply because nearly everyone gets one.

What does holding a high school diploma prove?

Re: US schools lay off hundreds of thousands

#110

Post by sdenton4 »

RhysU wrote: post #54
malwarebytess wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

National Defense is a luxury good until it isn't. Moreover, it is not something that can be purchased on short notice.

'Elbridge Gerry arguing against a large standing army, compared it, mischievously, to a standing penis: "An excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure."' - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_army#United_States

Gerry was pretty well spot on, it seems... The argument against an oversized standing army goes back to the founders in the US.

Post reply on HN