Ask HN: Do you think public education can be fixed?
I recently shipped a crowdfunding non-profit that pays tuition to low-fee private schools in developing countries. It's been going well for the last two weeks, but I've hit a bit of a snag in our mission.
I was called a neo-liberal and yelled at for "trying to fix the wrong problem" at a recent edtech meetup. This gal believes that for-profit charter schools are horrible for primary education and I should be focused on helping public/government institutions.
My response was that I want to directly effect kids now, not spend years trying to make a change that is unlikely to happen. The schools we work with are held accountable for the quality of education they provide and are teaching students we funded today. A third-world public school system isn't going to change because of a few thousand dollars, but a 100 student charter school with a budget of $80k per year will.
What does HN think about the situation? Do you think educating a smaller amount of people now is better then relying on potentially changing the whole system in future years?
I was called a neo-liberal and yelled at for "trying to fix the wrong problem" at a recent edtech meetup. This gal believes that for-profit charter schools are horrible for primary education and I should be focused on helping public/government institutions.
My response was that I want to directly effect kids now, not spend years trying to make a change that is unlikely to happen. The schools we work with are held accountable for the quality of education they provide and are teaching students we funded today. A third-world public school system isn't going to change because of a few thousand dollars, but a 100 student charter school with a budget of $80k per year will.
What does HN think about the situation? Do you think educating a smaller amount of people now is better then relying on potentially changing the whole system in future years?