sex might be the most overrated and overhyped thing in human history
Hey journalists: If you're going to talk about a "new device" that Palmer Luckey's company claims to have produced, it is imperitive that you start your article with the words
Palmer Luckey, a Nazi who has historically lied about creating new devices that didn't actually exist...Do not give the impression that the device is real unless you have actually physically held the device in your hands. An announcement on Luckey's company's website that they are making a device is not
evidence the device actually exists or will soon exist. This is something Luckey has historically lied about, and tech journalists have historically reported his lies uncritically.
And even if you verify that the device actually exists, you should still report in the first sentence that Luckey is a Nazi.RE: https://transfem.social/notes/ae7rksgrr9t400e0Was looking up a show I remember watching in elementary school, did not expect this fun fact about it lmao
The town I grew up in has a system where students' families choose what public school they go to. Every neighborhood has a local public school which students are expected to go to by default, but there are also a bunch of "programs" kids can attend instead of a regular school. There are programs that focus on performing arts, programs that focus on student-directed learning and governance, and programs with bilingual classes. All programs are controlled by the local school board: they are not run by a private board of investors. They cannot reject students based on grades, test scores, or disability status: any kid who lives in town can go to any program. And they're all free.
Sometimes the system works. The program I went to saved my life: I would not have become a functional adult without it.
The system is not perfect. The school board claims it allows parents to choose the school or program that is the best fit for their kid, but sometimes parents do not have their kid's best interest in mind. Unfortunately, fixing it is beyond the power of a local school board: it would require dismantling the system of "parents' rights" enshrined in both state and federal law. State and federal standardized tests also limit how far programs can deviate from the standard.
The program system my home town uses has been around since the 1960s, so naturally, many capitalists have observed it and thought "how can we copy this, but make it profitable for us?" Thus, charter schools were created.
The pitch for charter schools is exactly the same as the pitch for programs, but charter schools don't actually try to meet needs of individual students. Instead, they just don't accept students whom they believe are undeserving of an education. They reject students with disabilities so they don't have to pay for special ed. They reject students with lower test scores, and then brag about how they have higher average test scores than the public schools that accept everyone. And they cost money, so they never have to deal with students who are struggling because they don't have food at home.
When I was an angsty teenager, I'd sometimes have adults from other counties ask me if I went to a charter school. I'd respond "No, I go to the good thing that charter schools ripped off."
And capitalists draped all of their bigotry with the euphemism "choice." They ask "why doesn't the left support school choice?!?" I want to scream every time I hear this euphemism. Charter schools represent "school choice" the same way pre-ACA U.S. health insurance represented choice in health care.
I want school choice for the kids, not for the capitalists.
If James Gurney wrote a fifth Dinotopia book we'd hear a bunch of conservatives griping about how they went and made Dinotopia political.
Welcome to transfem.social
@mirai !
Oh wait I do have something to add:
Math education has been seriously harmed by the demand to teach lots and lots of concepts as quickly as possible, something which is enforced by Common Core and standardized tests. It's interesting to me to see pretty much the same thing happen in English education, with pretty much the same negative effects. Math and literature are wildly different subjects, and yet the people in power are attacking them in the same way.
CirinaTheUnwise
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Mirai