Comment by rayiner

Comment by rayiner 4 days ago

2 replies

Incorrect, in most states poor districts receive slightly more funding than affluent ones: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/90586/...

It sounds like you have a beef with how citizens socialize their children into the dominant religion of the society—which is literally considered a human right[1]—and less so with how schools are funded in the U.S.

See Article 18.4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/... (“The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”)

American subgroups that socialize their children into community religious norms are among the most successful. For example, Mormons: https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2020/11/utahs-economic-ex....

Prohibitions on religious education in public schools—which don’t exist in many developed countries, such as Germany and Sweden—hurts the majority of people who would do better under that system.

paulryanrogers 3 days ago

Urban teachers are not getting rich teaching poor kids. Having seen the classrooms first hand, the kids lives are like a low-grade war zone. Sometimes they even work themselves to pay for their charter school tuition, and keep the lights on at home. Siphoning public funds off to the pockets of PE owned schools is not going to improve outcomes.

Mormons' affluence is in spite of their faith, not because of it. Utah also has more MLMs and scams than most others.

Having lived in a cult-like religion, I'd rather be less wealthy yet mentally well than 'socialized' into magical thinking and all the various idiotic garbage I was taught. Public schools are often one of the only ways kids can escape abusive, exploitive, or otherwise unhealthy circumstances.

  • rayiner 3 days ago

    > Urban teachers are not getting rich teaching poor kids. Having seen the classrooms first hand, the kids lives are like a low-grade war zone. Sometimes they even work themselves to pay for their charter school tuition, and keep the lights on at home. Siphoning public funds off to the pockets of PE owned schools is not going to improve outcomes.

    Nobody is getting rich running schools. But everyone in the Baltimore public school district continues to draw salaries even though in some high schools many kids are reading at a kindergarten level. https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/77-tested-at....

    So let the PE folks take their shot, or at least provide ways for the small fraction of involved parents to get their kids out of failing schools.

    > Mormons' affluence is in spite of their faith, not because of it.

    Mormons were literally driven out of the rest of the country for their religious beliefs and settled land that has no resources and can barely support farms and agriculture. Yet they built a thriving civilization in the middle of nowhere. Utah is one of the most stunning success stories in the world, up there with Israel and Singapore.

    > Having lived in a cult-like religion, I'd rather be less wealthy yet mentally well than 'socialized' into magical thinking and all the various idiotic garbage I was taught. Public schools are often one of the only ways kids can escape abusive, exploitive, or otherwise unhealthy circumstances.

    Mormons are tied with Jews for the happiest people in the country. Being socialized into religion, with uniform norms and expectations, is for most people mentally healthy. They’re also literally healthier. They live significantly longer than non-LDS white people: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol10/3/10-3.pd....