Comments, observations and thoughts from two bloggers on applied statistics, higher education and epidemiology. Joseph is an associate professor. Mark is a professional statistician and former math teacher.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Education reform
Go and read Atrios' useful perspective on education reform. A broad movement can have many goals and it can be helpful to acknowledge all of them.
The problem is that it is much easier to invent and implement innovative scams than to invent and build things of value. Once a pot of money, whether from government or in a private market, becomes available, the crooks are able to mobilize rapidly and grab it. Those who seek to genuinely provide value need a longer time to ramp up, and get only the scraps left behind by the crooks. When the pot of gold is the government's, the problem is exacerbated because the government may be in cahoots with the crooks and structure the funding process with little oversight or regulation, assuring the scam artists get the lion's share right out of the gate.
This is true not just with education reform, but in many areas of the modern US economy. Charter schools are hardly the only promising idea that got destroyed by pirates.
In the end, it all boils down to our society's having become a kleptocracy.
The problem is that it is much easier to invent and implement innovative scams than to invent and build things of value. Once a pot of money, whether from government or in a private market, becomes available, the crooks are able to mobilize rapidly and grab it. Those who seek to genuinely provide value need a longer time to ramp up, and get only the scraps left behind by the crooks. When the pot of gold is the government's, the problem is exacerbated because the government may be in cahoots with the crooks and structure the funding process with little oversight or regulation, assuring the scam artists get the lion's share right out of the gate.
ReplyDeleteThis is true not just with education reform, but in many areas of the modern US economy. Charter schools are hardly the only promising idea that got destroyed by pirates.
In the end, it all boils down to our society's having become a kleptocracy.