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Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

donorschoose.org

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Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#41

$29M worth of XRP going to a good cause. Great, cash out and make good use of it. The cynic in me sees this as a cheap PR move (an SVP of marketing promoting it doesn't help). Associating your token with a good cause gives it credibility in the eyes of the public which in turn leads to an increase in the XRP price in USD. Here's what I understand about ripple: - 100 billion XRP was created at inception with 20 billio…

The only reason Ripple is worth anything is because of PR to convince the world that a wholly premined coin that isn't even necessary to use the Ripple network holds any value at all. So... a $29 million PR move to boost a $22 billion PR move?

Well so if the coin is totally useless, then at least funding charities with it is about as good as it gets right?

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#42
post #38
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter if it's a PR move or not?

Yes.

I disagree. Regardless of intentions, the projects received money they otherwise may not have. Everyone knows this was likely for the attention, but look at what that PR desperation accomplished.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#43
post #5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_(company)#Funding Are they profitable? How can this kind of thing be justified to shareholders?

man how can you even give a fuck about that. i cant believe HN sometimes

But just think of the shareholders!!!!

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really sucks that American public schools are so poorly funded. But maybe the principal and committees are just "playing the game" appropriately from their perspective. I doubt they have beanbag chairs full of cash that they're hoarding. I could see a scenario where, sure, the teacher's proposal is great. But what makes their proposal any better than the thousand others that cannot be funded?

They aren't poorly funded. I live in a suburban / rural area. The public schools here get ~$15,700 per student. Good private schools here charge ~$10,000 per student, and yet offer much better education with 2/3 the funding.

Public schools spend a ton of that on disabled students though.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#45
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their currency is worth billions

Billions of USD in digital coins they themselves created, right? So this $29M came from the shareholders, or from the coin-holders?

It comes from whoever will buy the coins, presumably.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#46
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI - My wife had her project funded this year by ripple, but last year her projects were funded by Melinda and Bill Gates. In both cases her projects were less than 10k, but make a huge difference to the kids in her classroom.

On the one hand, I’m very proud of how much it can help with such a small donation. On the other hand, I’m depressed it has to come from donations. Seriously, what is wrong with adults these days kicking the door closed behind us?

Propaganda mostly from the Republican party has convinced a great deal of people that Education is a waste of money. This is obviously stupid and false.

Apologies for getting political, but I come from a family of teachers in two red states (actually three now, thanks Wisconsin, you do love to hate yourself), and we're out of fucks to give.

EDIT: I know we don't like to get political here, but the question was "Why is America bad at education compared to other countries." First of all, it is bad, and it spends more than other countries, somehow. Makes sense when half the country has put their feet down stubbornly into the stand and said "pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" Or some nonsense.

Here's a great analysis of the Republican platform vis a vis education: https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/07...

Inevitable disclaimer: obviously not all republicans are opposed to effective, common sense education, and obviously not all democrats support it. But uh... compare the platforms.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#47
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI - My wife had her project funded this year by ripple, but last year her projects were funded by Melinda and Bill Gates. In both cases her projects were less than 10k, but make a huge difference to the kids in her classroom.

On the one hand, I’m very proud of how much it can help with such a small donation. On the other hand, I’m depressed it has to come from donations. Seriously, what is wrong with adults these days kicking the door closed behind us?

This seems to be what made US-American culture difficult to understand to some first time visitors. From tips to donations and gun ownership society seems to have decided to make citizens take into their own hands many responsibilities which in other countries the government takes care of.

/e: Not to suggest that either approach is without flaws, just that the approaches are different.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't poorly funded. I live in a suburban / rural area. The public schools here get ~$15,700 per student. Good private schools here charge ~$10,000 per student, and yet offer much better education with 2/3 the funding.

Right. The US spends more per student than most similar countries. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/PISA-2012-results-US.pd...

Here's my suspicion, coming from a long line of teachers, and I had an article to support this recently but I'm having trouble finding it right now - spending includes not just what the government/taxpayers are spending, but what teachers and students are spending, because in this insane system we have, somehow teachers getting 45k/year (hah, if that) are having to dip into their salaries to get whiteboard markers and notebooks for their kids that can't afford it. Meanwhile, parents are footing the bill for all the other supplies.

Non communal education means costs are spread out means they're higher. The government could bulk purchase, for example, notebooks, at pennies. Instead, students have to get packs of them at a couple bucks. I know this won't be the case for everyone here, but some of you reading this might have the thought, "a couple bucks, really? Just skip starbucks for a couple days!" I recommend you read "Evicted" and learn a bit more about poverty in America if you have these thoughts, or we can email and chat more about it.

In any case, yea, education costs more here for the same reason healthcare does - America is caught between forward-thinking longterm investors that know that a healthy, educated populace is good for the economy, and, well I don't know what shitty excuse the other side is using lately but they're about short term gains and spreading costs among private individuals rather than communising them.

Re: Ripple fully funded every live DonorsChoose classroom project yesterday

#50

This is great, but since this move added no new traders to the market and instead added a bunch of people that will dump their XRP instantly, doesn’t this hurt current holders? I wonder how much this had to do with the 5% price drop today [1]. It seems like what they really did was take traders’ $29 million and donate it, except they had no choice in the matter. Not that this is a bad way to spend one’s money, but I’…

Wait... people who bought into a currency that is majority-owned by one entity would like some say in how that entity spends it?
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