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Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#31

Post by kungito »

John23832 wrote: post #7

Two parts: First, I think the ability to DO THINGS is the great equalizer at this point. Being a do-er lifts you out of poverty (or at least out of poverty's worst resting state). Being a do-er expands your network. Being a do-er prolongs your life (people with jobs/daily activities tend to live longer healthier lives). The best part about this is that technology has made it easier to become a do-er. You don't need a…

I feel like the US has to split into separate countries and maybe adopt a system like EU. Everything in the us gets so generalized no one has any agency over it except companies with enough money to push a narrative across 300 mil people. Either that or the way you think about US has to change. I find it hard to believe every state does things the same way but still you say "US" has a problem and not Georgia or California. Why not think locally to your state which has a lot of independance in how it does things? Maybe then it would be easier to push reform

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#32

Post by John23832 »

wayoutthere wrote: post #24
John23832 wrote: post #7

Two parts: First, I think the ability to DO THINGS is the great equalizer at this point. Being a do-er lifts you out of poverty (or at least out of poverty's worst resting state). Being a do-er expands your network. Being a do-er prolongs your life (people with jobs/daily activities tend to live longer healthier lives). The best part about this is that technology has made it easier to become a do-er. You don't need a…

Holy hell dude, are you calling the working class lazy and the professional class hard-working?! This tells me you don’t have a lot of contact with the working class. The working class busts their asses while most software devs I know work about 2 hours a day from their couch in pajamas. Someone who works at a warehouse or fast food joint is a much harder worker than a software architect. Probably also working 60-80…

I did not. Reading comprehension is key.

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#33

Post by onei »

Bostonian wrote: post #8

Education is a multiplier of IQ, not an equalizer. Many people, although policymakers won't admit it, don't have the IQ to study at the high school level, for example learning algebra. Even more people don't have the IQ to study at the college level, for example studying calculus and writing a coherent, footnoted term paper. And only a small fraction of the population has the IQ to do significant research and earn a…

I struggle to believe that intelligence is fundamentally limited, but I often wonder if the child brain is super susceptible to negative effects based on their environment. Anecdotally, if your parents did not do well in school, and you were born into relative poverty, chances are you aren't going to be an Oxford professor. But if your parents are well educated professionals, it's more likely you're going to follow in their footsteps.

I think education is the great equaliser, but it needs to be nourished early and often or you quickly lose out.

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#34

Post by MattGaiser »

Is the education the new to education people on the bottom level are getting really the same?

We have heard plenty of stories of grades watered down to meet graduation targets, students being unable to get less than 50%, the proliferation of crappy for profit schools like Corinthian, and students being piped into college just to take tons of remedial courses.

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#35

Post by Ensorceled »

larrymyers wrote: post #25
zozbot234 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> while also chronically underfunding schools Schools are not underfunded in the U.S., they waste money. Big difference.

For what we expect of schools they are underfunded. Schools provide before and after care outside of normal hours, they provide all 3 meals to many students. Counseling, social services, health care ... it's not just teachers in the classroom. Now, if the US wanted to actually fix poverty and inequality dealing with the symptoms wouldn't roll down to the schools to deal with.

We do all of that in Canada, for 3K per student less AND get much better results (at least on average).

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#36

Post by wayoutthere »

John23832 wrote: post #32
wayoutthere wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy hell dude, are you calling the working class lazy and the professional class hard-working?! This tells me you don’t have a lot of contact with the working class. The working class busts their asses while most software devs I know work about 2 hours a day from their couch in pajamas. Someone who works at a warehouse or fast food joint is a much harder worker than a software architect. Probably also working 60-80…

I did not. Reading comprehension is key.

> You then get a "working class" with no real skills/education/ambition... they do not "do", which leads back to my first comment

This you?

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#37

Post by bradleyjg »

Ensorceled wrote: post #22
zozbot234 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> while also chronically underfunding schools Schools are not underfunded in the U.S., they waste money. Big difference.

As with health care, the US spends near the top[1] per student and ranks among the worst for results. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd

But we are top of the charts in percent overhead. USA! USA!

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#38

Post by ModernMech »

doytch wrote: post #26
whb07 wrote: post #15

Controlling education is a political life source for the Democratic party in the U.S. One of the largest, if not the largest, unions is the teacher's and they are a major donor to the Democratic party. Thankfully, the one good thing about the shutdowns has been the ability for parents to observe a couple things: * how little the school system cares about the child * the indoctrination and political ideas being passed…

I'm not American, but the core flaw that I've never had explained away for me in voucher or "school choice" systems is how "bad" schools get better. E.g., school in my district is bad. They don't have enough resources, or their teachers are bad. People begin taking their kids out of the school which means the school now has less money. Assuming they could fire teachers at will, they can't even now afford the "better"…

You haven't gotten an explanation because people who advocate for "school choice" systems don't want the bad schools to get better. They just don't want their kids to interact with people who go to the bad school.

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#39

Post by yzombinator »

Why is a gap between different socio-economic strata amazing? Do people really assume parents have absolutely nothing to add to the table? Only government? Of course they do!

Which means, a gap must by definition exist. That gap is the reason people want to move up a class.

Any program that the state adopts as policy will have a weak implementation. As a family will surely see the stakes and counteract/use it.

Re: Is education no longer the ‘great equalizer’?

#40

Post by [deleted] »

John23832 wrote: post #7

Two parts: First, I think the ability to DO THINGS is the great equalizer at this point. Being a do-er lifts you out of poverty (or at least out of poverty's worst resting state). Being a do-er expands your network. Being a do-er prolongs your life (people with jobs/daily activities tend to live longer healthier lives). The best part about this is that technology has made it easier to become a do-er. You don't need a…

[deleted]
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