Privatizing Public Services | Prisons and Schools

[@KnowingBetter]

The cut around 15:04 was to remove half of the sentence that was pointed out to me as incorrect by one of the authors of the study. I'd rather have an awkward cut than a false statement in my video. Hope it wasn't too jarring - do check out the working paper yourself!

[@misternull4753]

Your regular use of hard cuts covers it fairly well. I had to rewatch specifically to look for it.

[@utomocalvin]

19:48 17+46=63% charter perform better or about the same than public 21:05 costing 30% less ??? Not sure about the other services, but for schools, from the data Knowing Better gave, seems like a good deal

[@chrysiarose]

This all began when school prayer was ended. Religion became afraid of losing their ability to indoctrinate young children and hook them into religion for life. This is why Prager and others want to end public schools, and eventually make every school religious so you have no choice but to accept religious indoctrination is going to be forced on your child in exchange for education.

[@standby75]

oh no! what was said falsification?

[@paxundpeace9970]

I would cool when you reupload each topic seprately from this video, to watch certain topics.

[@tomcruise1492]

"throw him in the McJail"

[@gooball2005]

if you have a problem with that then just buy the surrounding area and charge a ludicrously large toll for the convict trucks to pass. it's simple economics people, smh my head

[@porterjohnson5517]

Still profit lol

[@tomcruise1492]

@MeatyGraffiti paying to go somewhere youre not going to by choice, thats terrible! *ambulance profusiously sweating*

[@hmdragon1638]

Help the McDonalds is getting robbed. call the McPolice so they and McTazze them and McArrest them.

[@AAAAAA-zw7oh]

I'm loving it

[@Debre.]

"The first modern private prison opened [...] in 1984." Of course it did.

[@rubenskiii]

_Orwell's Freedom Facility_

[@krombopulos_michael]

While I get that 1984 is kind of a fun year for anything tyrannical to happen, the idea of private enterprise or financial elites really isn't present in the novel 1984, because it was largely based on the USSR

[@Debre.]

@@krombopulos_michael I know, but it just seems weird how many dystopic things happened in 1984. I mean, it's probably just my brain exaggerating things, but still.

[@Ghostdesuu]

freedom is slavery

[@ofree8174]

@@Debre. wasnt zuck literally born in 1984?

[@IONATVS]

Even Adam Smith, the original theorist behind capitalism, thought privatizing public services was a bad idea: he was a mathematician and kept track of the assumptions upon which his theories were based, few of which hold even slightly true when dealing with these kinds of services. In fact, public education in particular was something he supported because it helps ground one of his assumptions for other elements of the system: that all consumers have enough information about their options to select the one that is most valuable to them.

[@celinak5062]

+

[@carlosvazquez8766]

> the original theorist behind capitalism That is if you ignore the Spanish scholastic tradition, which was ahead of Smith.

[@IONATVS]

@@carlosvazquez8766 I had not heard about the idea arising among the scholastics before, but I had a pubic school education, and most US schools, public or not, don't give nearly enough credit to medieval scholarship, often taking the "Dark Age" myth at face value. Did they call it "capitalism," or just have a very similar idea? Because generally the person who coins the term is the person people remember, even if the idea has been around a lot longer. Like how nationalism has really been a thing basically as long as we've had tribes, city-states and empires, but people only start discussing it in after the late 19th/early 20th century once the word had been coined. Then again, US schools also frequently skip over Fr. Georges Lemaitre, the physicist (& catholic priest) behind the big bang theory, even though the term was coined directly to mock his ideas--they usually credit it to Hubble, even though he just figured out the constants in the relevant equations...

[@IONATVS]

Vlavitir glutginskiya The reason why market forces work in most of the economy is because the incentive structure in a competitive, supply-and-demand-driven market for a product makes the best move for a greedy person to make more money *normally* align with things that are better for society as a whole-producing the amount & quality of the product society wants as cheaply as possible. In systems like these, however, the incentives in the market do not align with what society wants: we spend *more* in taxes on prisons because artificially inflating the demand for prisons (by lobbying for longer sentences on more minor crimes) is the only realistic way to increase revenues, while the taxpayer gets a worse product in return-since the easiest way of cutting costs in a prison is to keep the prisoners in less humane conditions. This situation, where the best way to compete is by “gaming the system” is known as a perverse incentive structure, and specifically violates the principles upon which Capitalism was mathematically derived. Capitalism is often misunderstood as a system where “greed is good,” but it is more accurately described as an elaborate system of carrots and sticks that allow greed to be harnessed FOR good, and that doesn’t work if they can just swipe a plate of cookies instead of running on the treadmill for their carrot and there’s no one with a stick preventing them from doing so. Politicians and bureaucrats are just as bad or worse in many contexts but this is not one of them, cuz the incentives involved generally align with the public feeling safer, and there is no quick and easy cheat they can use to make that happen. the carrots incentivizing them may not be as fresh and appetizing, but at least the public has a sturdy stick to hit them with if they start stealing from the cookie jar.

[@firekram]

@@IONATVS there Is no reason why private prisons have to have an occupation goal. If they where paid by how well their prisoner did on the outside they would be much better. Don't blame the prison for breaking the system, blame the people who built a poor incentive structure.

[@0mikr0n]

In my American Government class, we had a "break day" where a Ghirardelli chocolate company representative spent the entire period telling us that their chocolate was healthier than other chocolate. You read that right. They paid to advertise their chocolate to our classroom. That was the day my eyes were blown wide open to the corruption in the public education system.

[@haldir3120]

How is this legal?

[@astracrits4633]

How is that even allowed? That's beyond fucked up. also ayyy it's the funny AC meme guy

[@iHeartPiMore]

Yep, the government isn’t giving the school enough funding, so they have to find other sources.

[@mrmoment6061]

happened in my elementary with McDonalds.

[@patrickday4206]

@@mrmoment6061 bull

[@MalekiRe]

"Unless your business plan includes encourging parents to have more kids, In wish case YOU'RE PLAYING THE LONG GAME." Gold.

[@alphawolf4643]

Pieces'O'Cake Malek hehe. Long game. Making kids. Hehe

[@reasatprottoy7488]

You're please Edit: Thanks

[@tomio8072]

Vlavitir glutginskiya well yes I suppose it is fluctuating, but he did bring up the overall amount of people having children, unless I got that wrong but that seems like the best sauce to use if we can’t measure anything else because of the fluctuation like you said. Though I could be wrong :)

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

Ah... if only they would...

[@TheCstar07]

Considering the heavy pro life push in government maybe that's been the plan all along

[@adrianaslund8605]

Privatizing prisons is such a dumb idea. "Yes lets have people profit on having a high crime rate!" I imagine PowerPoint presentations on the subject "Crime rates are falling, what can we do to reverse this disturbing trend"

[@G.Bfit.93]

I saw a FOIA doc where private prison executives worried about that

[@ShaqPlaque]

There's a different John Oliver piece on privatizing prisons where he shows exactly that, board meetings where prison owners brag to their investors about recidivism rates

[@kolonarulez5222]

I went to a charter school for high school and I found out a few years after I graduated the principal and his family had all been fired as they were stealing millions of dollars from the school for home renovations and vacations. Senior year $3000 of our fundraising money mysterious went missing from his wife's office, I guess it's safe to assume where it went.

[@tomservo75]

What ever happened to that charter school? Did it close down? Your'e talking about one isolated incident. You think that type of corruption never happens in district schools? I worked in an inner city public school once and stories similar to that are quite common. If that type of corruption happens in a private or charter school, they close down and lose students. But public schools are too big to fail it seems, and they remain open. One anecdote doesn't prove any case against charter schools in general.

[@cre-k8-ive]

Did they shut down after that all came out? Also, I went to a charter school K-10. There were tons of scandals. They had high standardized test grades, but every single student I knew had mental health issues from the pressure of it.

[@venticuiliar9136]

I live in New Orleans and went to a charter school here (though all high schools here are charters now so that's not saying much) and it seems like there's a scandal every year about charter schools fudging their numbers to make them look like they're performing better than they actually are. They also focus heavily on test-prep and whatnot as opposed to actual teaching so that the students perform better on standardized tests

[@yonahsefchovich5931]

In a fairness, I’m from San Diego and my Sweetwater Union high school district had like year after year of arrests and investigations for all sorts of crimes. Our board of directors has had like dozens of people on it arrested for embezzlement.

[@shalyfemusic]

@@venticuiliar9136 You think public schools are better?🤨

[@ronjon6512]

I sent my child to a charter school and so far it's been a colossal mistake. We do not have a cafeteria or a bus system, we don't have a single bus yet we where promised one. Many parents including myself have now come to the conclusion that as long as parents are willing to pick up and drop off their children as well as travel to away games for athletics then the school will never get a bus. The reason for this is the same as having an enrollment lottery, to weed out the economically disadvantaged kids (poor kids). They also do a poor job communicating to parents about future opportunities, they sent out letters to "certain" families about the new athletic program. They admitted it and apologized claiming it was a mistake. Sure it was. It's very obvious they don't want certain students there.

[@RancidGravy]

Trying a charter school is one of my biggest regrets in life. It really did my kid harm.

[@justanotherweirdo11]

I enjoyed my experience at a charter school but yeah we didn't have a bus system. We did have cafeteria and busses for field trips. I think we had less access to extracurriculars than the public schools around us.

[@kadenstimpson3167]

i went to a charter school my entire life and i genuinely wish there was technology available that could erase my memories of it. what a consistently horrific experience it was. they took every opportunity to beat me down and break my spirit, as a little ass kid. my parents didnt care, but luckily my grandma was always there to yell at admins for me.

[@ronjon6512]

@Kaden Stimpson I'm sorry to hear that. They pick and choose who that want to go there. They can't exactly kick out the ones that they don't desire. So they make it tough, hoping the undesirables will leave.

[@fictionindianspaceprogram-222]

This is why white, Christian, Republicans are the only ones who like these schools because NO BLACK PEOPLE

[@EmperorTigerstar]

So glad you went with this topic. The rise of charter schools is annoying to say the least. Using public funds to make a private institution just ruins the public schools.

[@ShnoogleMan]

An Emperor TigerStar comment on a Knowing Better vid where he gives a shout out to Shaun. It's my 3 favorite you tubers rolled into one.

[@genghiskhan7662]

EmperorTigerstar! The legend himself!

[@angeliparraguirre7329]

Emperor tigerstar is a Chad mates

[@travishenry3307]

West Virginia had their second teacher strike. Reason being, the bill with their pay raise, also included Charter School Funding, amongst other things

[@blownspeakersss]

Charter schools _are_ public schools...

[@Uriel238]

*Warning:* _PragerU_ is not a university or institution accredited by the US Department of Education, rather it is a media agency, organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit business. _PragerU_ is largely funded ($6+ million USD) by fossil fuel industrialists (and fracking enthusiasts) Dan and Farris Wilks, and topics discussed and opinions expressed on PragerU are specifically determined by the Wilks family and its financial interests. Each PragerU video costs $25,000-$30,000 USD to produce. I'm getting a lot of use out of this disclaimer lately.

[@raney150]

There should be a law that you can't use "University" or "College" in your name unless you are an accredited institution. You can't pretend to be a doctor or a lawyer, so why can you pretend you are an educational institute?

[@shorewall]

@@raney150 How about wise up and don't believe everything you hear?

[@kyosokutai]

@@shorewall How about you stop victim blaming

[@n0oo7]

@@raney150 they don't, they use a U.

[@fictionindianspaceprogram-222]

​@@n0oo7U is short for university dumdum

[@katiet6370]

When I was in high school I was in AP English classes, and yet, when the teachers would tell us that standardized tests didn’t count for our grade, everyone would just pick random answers; so I’d take these standardized test scores with a grain of salt

[@WolfJulia2001]

Right!

[@guidotron82]

I remember reading somewhere that in protest a bunch of students chose ACAB over and over when it didn't count towards their final grade.

[@jellysecret]

yep, our teachers had to bribe us with pizza to even take the tests, but even then only like half of us did.

[@Rune3100]

You all had very different experiences with standardized tests than I did, it was mandatory at my schools and they smashed into our brains that it would determine things like college acceptance or (when we weren't in high school) whether we would get held back. I know now they were lies but let me tell you, it really didn't help with the test anxiety of my classmates and I had, and we did our damndest to get good scores

[@EnigmaticLucas]

@@Rune3100 I’m pretty sure they’re talking about state-level ones, which colleges don’t even look at

[@jennawhite5466]

10:40 - The teacher population was so broken by my senior year; half of my teachers were not officially certified, as they themselves were still in college.

[@j.c.2240]

When I was in high school, the best (actually, only) special ed teacher got promoted and taken out of the classroom and replaced by a woman who was still in college, and treated the junior students like first graders. I didn't like her much.

[@philipbuckley759]

check the numbers, from the small Christian schools, because they use non accredited...teachers....and see how they compare, to the public school....they say that a potential student will test below their stated grade level.....

[@MykiiMescal]

@Nuby sure jan

[@MediumDSpeaks]

No wonder my edumacation werent not so very good

[@Pat4ever.]

*”I’m learnding!”*

[@Weirdude777]

Your fail English? That's unpossible!

[@napalmblaziken]

He no talking good like me or you.

[@TribuneAquila]

I went to Nebraska. The N stands for Nowledge.

[@Pseudynom]

After graduating from university I'll have 2600 € debt. I only have to pay back 2249 € if I pay it off at once.

[@hensomm]

Public schools are broken not because they exist or because they don't have enough competition/choice. They are broken because they are top heavy with unnecessary administration and red tape. So while the US spends near the most per student on education, the money that actually makes its way to the students is extremely reduced. So that is a bureaucratic issue, not a public vs privatization issue. And I entirely agree that no child left behind and common core are disasters. They make schools focus on standardized testing and not educating. It inherently causes public schools to fall behind

[@hensomm]

@Vlavitir glutginskiya Sure, a public institution with poor accountability will have a runaway bureaucratic system. But that does not mean a public institution can only have a runaway bureaucratic system. Maintaining cost effective models, demand cutting of redundancy, and public transparency fixes this.

[@mikeandyholloway]

@@hensomm If that is granted then the question becomes: How do you expect to achieve these reforms where others have failed?

[@thewestwinger3855]

@@hensomm absolutely rubbish yet no other countries have such problems

[@moriahjmiller]

Agreed! Columbus, Ohio has had some major issues with the bureaucracy in the school system. The Columbus City Schools are just terrible, and it’s so unfortunate for the kids. Travel to any of the nearby school systems...some of the best.

[@MichaelS-vy1ku]

You're wrong. It's expensive because the US system relies on government contracts and doesn't have direct control over what is being taught like in other places. This means it's more expensive, it also means you're not a slave to the state.

[@TheSlasherJunkie]

I knew about the explosion of the prison population, but I never connected it to the private prison industry. That’s pretty messed up, once you connect those dots. Wait, was that Lindsay Ellis reading? Damn, that’s not a crossover I expected

[@TheSlasherJunkie]

@BruderShaft1 The fundamental problem here is that you’re assuming the government is nebulous, rather than an incredibly compartmentalized bureaucracy made up of individuals. You can’t just say “gubmint bad” and call it a day there, The State apparatus is incredibly important for keeping corporations in check. The question becomes whether or not they will, and why that is.

[@TheSlasherJunkie]

@BruderShaft1 Not all government is created equal, and not everything should be privatized. Until you can wrap your head around either of these concepts, you will continue to miss the point completely.

[@MaaveMaave]

@BruderShaft1 the dots still connect if prisons lobby or fund politicians who will increase the jail population (by making more things illegal, increasing sentence length, etc). And searching online there's definitely a prison lobby. We need to rethink political finance

[@knewledge8626]

Regardless of what they are selling, a private corporations only goal is (always [always ]) to make a profit.

[@kodaskii5042]

@Yoshi Does Stuff If you buy pennies and smelt them, you *can* make a profit.

[@Mary_O]

I agree with you, but my parents got exactly what they paid for.

[@missfire9480]

@@kodaskii5042 Yeah but that's just a tad bit illegal. Don't let the alphabet boys catch you.

[@bcshu2]

And the one sure method of acquiring more of that evil profit ... offer a good product or service people want, in this case quality education. Just like what you find in almost every market.

[@alexanderweaver6047]

SpaceX

[@MrBEarlE]

I had the benefit of bouncing around from one school to another every few years, sometimes public sometimes private and can say it varies a lot case by case. but what makes the biggest difference is dedication of the teacher. Sometimes the best teachers I had were at the worst schools,

[@mintgardener]

Your schooling experience heavily depends on the teacher you have, not the building you are in

[@omarcitonunez5770]

@@mintgardener So the best we can do is prepare our teachers well and don't underpay them for such an important job, or at least at a very basic level that would help at the beginning.

[@aturchomicz821]

@@omarcitonunez5770 correct

[@benjaminparent4115]

@@mintgardener I both agree and disagree, yeah it absolutely depend grom the teacher passion and dedication, but the way the school is structured can heavily influence on that, I don't how it is where you live but where I live Well private school tend to go out of their way to get as much money from their student's parent. And I think it is really hard to stay a moticated and dedicated teacher when your are encourage to make as much money as possible and traffic your score number for the school to keep getting business. Inn my country It is not uncommon for Private school to expel poorly performing for the last year of middle school and high school, because these are years where the student need to pass a national exam where the school has no control over the grading process, and if someone pass through the net they encourage them to pass such exam as a free canddiate instead as one of their student so that their student average at such exams stay high and selling point to parent.

[@LeviForWaifu]

How do I reeech these keeeeds

[@anthonykerr3509]

“Unless your business plan includes encouraging parents to have more kids” Sounds like a Catholic school if I ever heard one.

[@oldgus01]

"...increase demand, which you are not able to do for schools..." Man in Sunglasses: Nature finds a way. "... And I hope you wouldn't want to do for prisons." Man in long tie: I am the best force of nature. Just look at me. Have you ever seen anyone more forceful, or .... Naturelike? Anyways, let's fill those prisons."

[@blackpowderkun]

We had a seminar about responsible birth control in a Catholic church.

[@donaldtrumplover2254]

I wish they’d have more kids, otherwise we wouldn’t be running into the this population crisis ffs. It’s insane that people think the world is overpopulated.

[@banananotebook3331]

To be fair, there's an old catholic joke. A father says to his son, "why aren't you catholic, I sent you to catholic school." "That's why," said the son.

[@memoofjacoboarbenzjuanarev9724]

@@donaldtrumplover2254 we are though and with climate change we'll be fighting over water and immigration will get to nightmare levels tweeck your agenda or else it will get worse especially for things you like even less.

[@jonsmith7659]

Thanks to our love of profits over everything, we feel the need to privatize things like schools or prisons or the post office. Unfettered capitalism doesn’t work. Some things are public goods and don’t need to be run like a business.

[@shalyfemusic]

When institutions are run profit it has been proven to always perform better.

[@jonsmith7659]

@@shalyfemusic cite your sources please. What do you mean by “better”? What are the metrics. Where is your evidence?

[@shalyfemusic]

@@jonsmith7659 "Better" in terms of quality, quantity, ratings, and cost.

[@str2010]

@@shalyfemusic I'm calling bs on cost. And quality and quantity is sometimes dubious

[@urtuzuasteguireyesangelgab1602]

@@shalyfemusic definitely not. I went to a private school that was way worse than a public school in western Europe.

[@kirksatterwhite2473]

This is one of your best videos yet; and that is saying something. I don’t always completely agree with everything you say in your videos (probably just 98% of what you say), but in this video you referenced and backed up not just your statistics, but your view points as well. Very thorough and very well done. Thank you for producing quality content. Keep up the great work!

[@2secondslater]

98% of statistics are made up 😝

[@lordmango545]

Steven S so you have any counter evidence against him ?

[@lordmango545]

Steven S I was asking if any of the points he made were wrong due to your proposed shallow analysis. For, sometimes things CAN be quickly looked at and you can get a general idea of a trend in data.

[@lordmango545]

Steven S my point exactly if his research was too shallow then you should find some things wrong with what he said if you’re able to find out a way that he was majorly wrong then I’ll be satisfied.

[@lordmango545]

Steven S I’m being entirely serious if you give me an answer with some evidence that he’s wrong I’ll accept that full heartedly

[@matiasgazzarri4959]

Ah, I love the smell of debunking PragerU in the morning.

[@TractorWrangler01]

Except ya didn't.

[@haroldellis9721]

It smells like, education.

[@TractorWrangler01]

@Average Joesson Destroying the truth will not make what you prefer to believe true. It just does not work that way. You can't destroy the truth anyway. It's still there even if you censor it into oblivion. The truth will allways be the truth. Your political attacks on it because of the EU NAZI style propaganda you've been listening to still doesn't change it. It just hides it from you to protect your feelings from getting a booboo.

[@grizlerber]

Tractor Wrangler but he kinda did tho.

[@felixw19]

@@TractorWrangler01 the "Truth"? You mean Alternative Facts a.k.a. Lies that were debunked in this video here? Have you even watched it?

[@janeayre96]

The year Michigan got their first private prison, mandatory sentences became insane.

[@oranjethefox8725]

We are not going to talk about home schools... 2020: Allow me to introduce myself

[@chrisnaden3590]

Yeah, what's happening now isn't 'home-schooling', it's kids doing school from home. Home schooling isn't about where it happens. It's about the parents seizing 100% unchallenged control over the totality of what their child learns, permitting the parent to indoctrinate the child with whatever inane fanaticism they have, all while completely denying access to or visibility of the child to the authorities who might rescue the child from parental abuse. If outside authorities are involved, e.g. teachers via zoom, actual tests, engagement with other kids who aren't inside the cult, etc, then it's not 'home-schooling' - it's crisis schooling. (And yes, I was home-schooled - just not in America, and the reason I was home-schooled wasn't indoctrination, it was there being no schools within several hundred miles of where I lived. Later on, I went to boarding schools)

[@oranjethefox8725]

@@chrisnaden3590 man, it was a joke

[@vistagreat9994]

@@chrisnaden3590 this deserves more likes

[@chrisnaden3590]

@@oranjethefox8725 ... mea culpa, I clearly fluffed my Detect Humour roll ;)

[@AdrianMartinez-gq7ne]

@@chrisnaden3590 I was homeschooled by conservative Christian parents... and they were transparent with the education boards, used approved homeschooled curriculums, and thoroughly prepared me for all the challenges of getting a college degree and building a career. In other words, I'm doing just fine because of them.

[@iammrbeat]

Random thoughts by Mr. Beat while watching this. Regarding prisons, it appears the root of the problem often is money in politics and the heavy influence of lobbyists on our government. Inefficiencies occur even with the privatization of goods and services because there is no true competition. It's all about special deals and special privileges. The irony is that Medicare is more efficient and cheaper because it FORCES competition. Also, we ought to all agree with the purpose of schools. Is it socialization? Is it to get them ready for college? Is it to prove to society a young person can overcome obstacles and be resilient? If we can't agree on the purpose of school, we should probably question the real reason why we still have schools for kids. It is my humble opinion that we learn most of what we do outside of school, not in it. In fact, sometimes I feel as a teacher I am just a glorified baby sitter. I made a whole video about the real reason why we go to school. It's mostly about conformity and creating good citizens.

[@tacogreatlordoftacobell7295]

noice

[@ferky123]

It's also so we have citizens who can read and do basic math. Also we have to have some place to put children for 8 hours so parents can go to work.

[@cinnanyan]

The US is a quite odd country when it comes to public education. In many countries, public education really was about building a national identity (in other words, "conformity and creating good citizens" as you said) but in the US it was originally a very regional thing heavily related to puritan values (everyone needs to be able to read the Bible), which were then imposed on the defeated South in the 1870s as northerners moved in, trying to replicate their ideal society. The US government didn't even have a dedicated education department until the 1970s, and even then it mostly seems to be concerned with colleges and universities. Getting Americans to agree on the purpose of schools might be impossible due to this history.

[@averageconsumer0]

the purpose of schools is to teach you about the world around you, so you wont be an ignorant peasant, and to give you the skills necessary to interact in modern society, things like reading, math, science and law. socialization is not the primary purpose of schools, humans socialize naturally in any situation. college is a different thing, because not everyone has the means to go to college

[@Lycaon1765]

School should prepare you for being a functioning adult in the Real World(tm). It should do things like teach you financial literacy, how to get a job, how to communicate, how to research, how to work in a group, how to learn, etc. But instead they just teach us trigonometry and go over the same periods of history we went over last year.

[@dionemoolman]

When it comes to prison, we need a Scandinavian system. Focus on rehabilitating them for the real world rather than making them suffer.

[@druze3210]

Hey! Look! *An actual good idea*

[@theblackstoneknight]

It depends on the crime commited. Small thieves, pickpockets, aggression shouldn't be mixed and indeed should be rehabilitated. On the other hand, murderer or rapist, these people do not deserve any mercy. They should have a choice: be put to work for the government (in the administration for exemple) or live their lives in a hole. These people are not humans anymore, they should be treated as such.

[@yron33]

@@theblackstoneknight Slave labour. Very cool.

[@theblackstoneknight]

@@yron33 Well... Yeah. If found guilty of murder / rape, the person should lose almost every right you own. Of course, the person should still be protected from other criminals, fed and cared for in a medical way. But civil rights ? Nah, you destroyed someone else's life, you're nothing but an animal, and should be treated as such.

[@partlycurrent]

@@theblackstoneknight where are you from? Nazi Germany? Or the USSR? Or north Korea? If not, please move there, we don't want your thinking in the west. Human rights are unalienable.

[@christianleblanc5109]

As someone who works at Waste Management when you mentioned that’s how mafia works that got a hearty chuckle out of me

[@captain34ca]

don't let the boss hear you laughing.

[@BlondeEyes7]

I work for my state. I can tell you that “providing a better service” is a GREAT incentive. Most of us work where we do because we care about the way that our department helps the public. And even if we aren’t personally invested in the good we do, we have a monetary incentive: we have to convince our legislature that we provide a good return on funding, or they’ll cut our funds. Then some of us will lose our jobs and others will have to pick up the corresponding slack. It’s a pretty functional system.

[@gunnarthegumbootguy7909]

In sweden the last 20 years this kind of privatisation of all public services and public owned enterprises have gone rampant, now they even privatized the postal system, which of course results in a total mess, most healthcare except for big hospitals even though publicly funded are run by private and for profit contractors, a lot of this privatization has happened when social democratic party was in power, doing things that the liberals and conservatives always wanted but would never get away with...except for the socialist left party (v) and the nationalist conservative (SD) party there are really only a buch of parties that all agree on modern liberalism and privatizing all public resources, there are no social democrats in the social democratic party anymore except at local level...

[@aturchomicz821]

@@kat3325 bruh we wattched with KB like a week ago PragerU Propagnda and this exact talking point came up, you people are such a laughingstock lmao

[@mauricio9564]

@@kat3325 Bruh none of what you said made sense.And you can run a system with 100% nationalized services,Soviet Union did it since 1930 lol.They did do it,and if by it did not work you mean USSR did not improve or smt,well guess who was only country not affected by Great Depression,right.USSR went from having same economy as India in 1922 to being richer than all of Latin America and Africa combined in 1960,why wasn’t capitalism there not making all those more populated and resource rich regions richer than USSR? How was USSR First Nation in space and second world superpower?PragerU told me socialism makes you poorer no matter what 🤔.

[@CarterHancock]

I'm a bit surprised that the postal service being privatized was a mess. In the US our postal service (USPS) is a mess and underfunded. Private mail is much better in almost every way here. FedEx, UPS, etc. are really good.

[@rambunctiousbearguy]

Man I really miss that old intro ):

[@iammrbeat]

But the new one sounds like a rave!

[@tristenarctician6910]

Me too

[@theargonaught44]

I do too. it leaves room for him to add one, like past video subjects or something about the one your watching.

[@YognautDeath]

"I don't know, I went to public school" instant like

[@reachthroughreality]

When I was in school, it was always stressed to us that we have to do good on the yearly standardized test, because those scores determine funding. If you have a lower grade you get less funding. That almost makes sense on the face, but it makes more sense that the good school is just fine, the failing school needs more help. It also lead to what felt like half a year dedicated to studying nothing but what would be on that test. We were doing Math and English drills in History class. This may or may not be true, but it seems like the kind of back asswards system we'd set up.

[@lowereastsideastrologist7769]

Using standardized tests as a proxy to determine funding is the closest practice to eugenics.

[@7fatrats]

@@lowereastsideastrologist7769 oh boy then you'd love the story of bow the ACT and SAT came to be- because it was precicely eugenics

[@DJSantoX]

I failed the standardized state testing every single year. I got bored and would rather be outside when it was nice out.

[@patrickday4206]

@@7fatrats destroy those that are the classes you don't care for. Closest to eugenics

[@johnnypc07]

My town opened a 7th burger joint, I have to eat burgers every day of the week now. That's how it works right?

[@KickinAss1000]

thats how i justify my eating habits lol, its sad that if you open more fast food restaurants the average american does eat far more shit in their diet.

[@raney150]

No. You are an individual person. But more restaurants might encourage more people overall to eat burgers. I'm actually not sure if that does happen, but it could be plausible. Marketing tactics are meant to artificially increase demand, and they often work. It doesn't mean you as an individual eat it more, but people in general in your town might.

[@KickinAss1000]

@@raney150 yes he is an individual lol and btw efficient advertising doesnt artificially increase demand.. it just increases demand LOL

[@procinctu1]

It is called the Overwhelming Power of the State Burger and the more power we give the State the happier and more free we will be :)

[@HotMessToHotMom]

Not if AOC has her way !!!

[@RedPhoenix550]

Here in Israel we view private schools as a last resort for a kid who can't succeed anywhere else.

[@Soitisisit]

Israel isn't a good model for standard reality, it exists in a different dimension. (( It's a Polandball reference. ))

[@moosesandmeese969]

In america it's just the place where the rich brats from white families go

[@liranpiade4499]

@Ben Miller Not really. I went through 12 years of Israeli public education. I'm not the only person who wasn't interested in the army (I am one of the only ones who managed to get out of it though) Also, regardless of military brainwashing (which isn't nearly that bad over there, it's much milder than brainwashing), and the poor facilities (they are pretty shitty, I admit), the academic level is actually pretty damn great. I'm in Australia, and I've compared myself to people who grew up in Australian private schools. My academic level of studies was damn good.

[@jacobdawson6238]

@Ben Miller critical thinking is the bane of the military..... you ever even heard of All the different military doctrines and traditions that vary from regiment to regiment from country to country?

[@eeeeeendo]

@Ben Miller As much as i disagree with a lot that Israel is doing with its army, said army is necessary with the dozens of hostile countries around it. Also many positions in the military are strictly technological and require good education and critical thinking, such as cyber security and intelligence, the iron dome defense system would not exist without some pretty smart people that went to good schools.

[@ryguy9876]

On that note about public school being broken, I think most of those feelings come from the public curriculum having a tendency to destroy independent thought in the name of forcing fact retention, which results in a lot of people thinking they hate school when the reality is that the method of teaching and some of the material is the problem. From what I can tell, the goal if education should be to inspire self learning rather than fact retention and regurgitation. I have some experience with this as both my Chemistry and Economics 101 classes took this approach, and I learned way more in those classes than I did in any other class, and enjoyed my time way more as well.

[@Wednesday131O]

Soon as you mentioned corporations, and later Michigan, three words popped into my head. National heritage academies. Just glancing at their Wikipedia article shows you what they are, for profit, no matter what. Tax fraud, buying tax paid for buildings, basically, just being as frugal as possible. I didn't realize it when I went to one, but man, these places suck.

[@blarblablarblar]

"So let me explain why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I don't personally have a kid in school: It's because I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people.” -John Green

[@comeseetheviolenceinherent579]

blarblablarblar the US is currently a country of people who think they are smart but are rather stupid. They know just enough to be dangerous. I understand reason for monarchs in the past.

[@KingBobXVI]

​@@comeseetheviolenceinherent579 - "the US is currently a country of people who think they are smart but are rather stupid" And it reflects in our president - a person whose desk is always empty, and sees fit to only hire people who are even dumber than he is so he can technically be the smartest person in the room of idiots.

[@thomascook3336]

That would work if the schools were constantly trying to educate the children to be better than the previous batch. Unfortunately having a well educated, highly knowledgeable population does not help the political class in its search for ever more power and control. My own highschool when i graduated in 2011 had 34% of its graduating class at an 8th grade reading level, and 6th grade math level. And that is with a 18% yearly drop out rate. Schools are increasingly loosing value, to the point that homeschooled children end up smarter and more successful than the drones continously being pumped out of public education.

[@SeanCosgrove1]

The public school district of Newark, NJ spends $20k/year per student, or double the national average. It has a graduation rate of 50% and of the kids who graduate and go on to community college, 90% need to take remedial classes in subjects like Math and English to continue their education. Government schools don't make you smart.

[@47f0]

@@SeanCosgrove1 - No dear. It's genetics that make you smart. Or, in your case... As far your cherry-picking school districts, there are several issues here. First, simply throwing money at a district with larger cultural problems is unlikely to produce substantive results. Newark has social issues that have a real impact that may not be fixable in the classroom. Second, your "per student" number is pure bullshit. How much of that money went to actual teachers and students - and how much went to padding an already bloated and top-heavy administration? This is a systemic problem in a majority of American school systems, BTW, not just Newark. We spend a much higher percentage of our educational budget on administration than almost any other country. Third - you fail to adjust for regional costs - an educational dollar goes farther in some parts of the country than others. But no, keep picking those cherries. I'm sure you think it makes you look smart.

[@Luredreier]

Hum. Over here in Norway it's illegal to make a profit on education. Students that go to private schools get the same funding as public ones do. But it partially comes in the form of a loan that is then converted into a grant once they successfully finish their education and partially in the form of an actual grant. In other words, private schools takes on some of the risk that the goverment otherwise would have to fund giving them a incentive to do well. There's rules about what has to be included in their curriculum (they're free to exceed this though, but it has to be voluntary to take part in this extra education, hence why I ended up with obligatory voluntary classes in church history in one of my schools, I was free to not take them, but if I did not I wouldn't be admitted the next year to that particular school) On the whole our private schools does a good job of experimenting with new teaching techniques etc improving the overall quality of education (although we also have our share of scandals). Generally speaking though they're roughly on par with the regular schools that most people are attending anyway.

[@12ww37]

;D

[@richardalvarado-ik9br]

What happened to Anders Brevik?

[@_-_julie_-_7834]

Brunost gang 🤙

[@YvonneHoerde]

I think that is the way it should be done. Interesting example.

[@sammyttheg412]

Knew this channel would blow up those columbus videos were excellent

[@DarthVader1977]

Christopher Columbus was awesome.

[@theluckiestmagala3126]

I think you need a comma

[@SocialistFinn1]

this channel blew up columbus videos? This is why you need punctuation.

[@JohnBrown-z2u]

Wow. I didn't notice it had grown that much. Nearly 500k now.

[@jwddwj9]

Columbus was horrible, knowing better's Columbus video is one of his worst

[@abrum8869]

In a manner of speaking, I used to be a praeger fan boy. Thank you for your thought provoking videos. I am learning a lot.

[@tawdryhepburn4686]

Thank you for taking the difficult step of watching media critical of your beliefs. World needs more folks like you. And... maybe I should try to be one of them too.

[@ariandynas]

Good on ya for having an open mind, and being willing to question what they're telling ya. Dennis Prager really only wants a legion of yes-men.

[@noleftturnunstoned]

Propaganda is a hell of a drug. Always feels good to have your beliefs reinforced.

[@Kolobious]

There are many more like you. Keep on digging and questioning. There's gold in them there hills!

[@WeLoveGlennMurray]

The real questions is why my guy still has a fallout 76 poster in the background

[@potejtomen7264]

if the game is bad but the poster looks good why not right?

[@Akuarob]

Kjk1989 shit game;neat poster

[@ethanmanley4594]

As a 20 year old, I haven't been out of the school system very long. People are always going on about how bad public school is, but I had a great experience with my education. My school district was not very rich, and often was looked down upon by surrounding areas. At the same time, I took AP classes, STEM classes, and College credit classes at this supposed "bad public school" meanwhile a STEM charter school nearby actually had less STEM classes than my school. The only problem with public schools imo is the students. They don't put in any effort and parents complain that they were "failed by the broken system." How about you encourage your children and actually get involved in their education? Public school can be great if you just put the effort into it

[@sierrasouthwell9237]

I lived in a suburban area with a decent school system, so I also had a good experience. However, I took mostly AP classes and a couple of non-AP classes, and there was a huge difference in quality between the two. I started college at a good school (#3 or #4 in my rather large state) and my freshmen classes were easier than my AP classes. However, in my regular US history class, which was taught by the assistant football coach, I was literally reading out of a textbook and answering the questions at the end of the chapter. It was a total joke and when I had to retake the class in college (which I think is another issue all together) I felt like I was hearing all of the information for the first time- I got an A in my high school class, but retained none of the information. Fact of the matter was that the regular classes at my high school did nothing to prepare the students for college. Currently, my state's public school system teaches to a standardized test. This standardized test was the most ridiculously easy thing that I had to take and I never understood why anyone who's first language was English could fail it (and yet some people did.) Maybe I'm just overestimating the intelligence of some of my peers, but it felt like there was a huge, unnecessary gap between the education I received and the education received by my less gifted peers.

[@Cerberus984]

IMO, public school and / or charter schools need to evolve by becoming online increasing class size without decreasing quality. This would mainly only be feasible for high schools as the children are "more likely" to be competent enough to not accidentally eat tide pods or misc bad shit around the house. With the savings of reduced overhead of vast amount of buildings dedicate a portion to be re-purposed for expanded STEM courses. Some might claim well some kids might get left behind yada yada yada. Well, you can't force a person unwilling to learn so if they wan't to wallow in degeneracy there is nothing that can stop them in all honesty. Those kids are typically burdening other students by diverting a teachers time just dealing with their idiocy and potential bully actions. In this hypothetical online schooling environment only the teacher knows the student's names. While every other student's knows each other by long numbered segments making targeting of others a moot point since minimal clout could be gained by such actions.

[@Felishamois]

@@Cerberus984 wow, no compulsory socializing with peers in child and teen years, in places where some parents don't let their children go outside on their own, and the easiest way to socialize is to go out on the streets. Can't see that going wrong

[@Felishamois]

@@Cerberus984 that's maybe a good idea you got if it applies to a bunch of classes that would be read out of a textbook anyway (thinking of history, civics, maths. Literature, physics, biology are way better in person in a class. Chem is only possible in class)

[@AlexBobalexRavenclaw]

Ethan Manley That’s my problem with school in general, parents complaining to the schools “Failure to parent my child is YOUR fault.”

[@ericgilbert1087]

"Unlike PragerU, I cite my sources" OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH SNAP!!!

[@thomasnguyen3323]

They cite their sources in a link under the description.

[@moriahjmiller]

Huu Phuc Nguyen Except when they don’t.

[@thomasnguyen3323]

Moriah Miller Example?

[@moriahjmiller]

Huu Phuc Nguyen In the video, Knowing Better said at one point that the PragerU video he was referring to did not give a source, and it took him a long time to find out what he *thinks* might be the source. I can’t find the time stamps but I highly recommend watching the video. Super informative. :)

[@jarodfleming1210]

One of which is a comedy show. :-/

[@mauriciomonsalvespino2214]

I just recently discovered your videos and I gotta say, I'm loving your personal crusade against Prager U. Keep the good job, greetings from Chile

[@cheybat5390]

4 vice principals= 1 per American high school grade. Yes, I'm deadly serious. Go ask your younger cousins.

[@PlaystationMasterPS3]

can confirm. had to go to one once (but I wasn't the one in trouble, the VP was. long story)

[@ShaggyRax]

Yep. Even here in TN same deal. A few schools out here have 5 cause they add 8th grade to some hs here

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Well I gees my High School, is different we only have two. In total.

[@BobBobson]

We had 3 vice principals when I went, for roughly 2000 kids. Now they're up to 5 "assistant principals" plus an associate principal.

[@blakjak8731]

we have one Principal and 4 AP, one for each grade. We are a pretty big school, with over 2000, so it is actually a decent number i think

[@BirdOPrey5]

While I tend to disagree with you a lot, politically, I could not agree more that prisons (especially) and schools should NOT be privatized.

[@contentiouscritic]

Prisons yes, schools no. Schools provide a rivalrous service, they are in competition with each other. Prisons are non-rivalrous, they do not compete. They are fundamentally different, schools can be affected by the free-market, prisons don't compete with each other, and if they do that can only harm prisoners for the benefit of the government / company.

[@RodrigoVelizGTR]

@ThisIsMyRealName Private schools are always better, If they are not good they are out of business, you can't say the same with the public ones.

[@PizzaManager101]

Rodrigo Veliz i’ve seen public schools which have the same funding as private schools have better results, it’s just they usually don’t have the same funding because voters don’t seem to care about educating the public

[@AndradeSamir]

Public schools are an abomination as big as private prisons,I have no idea why people want the government to educate their children

[@alexanderloughran2716]

UglyTruth it’s that’s true then why do privately educate people end up doing better in general than those educated at public schools

[@maryhildreth754]

No Child Left Behind is a train wreck. I can tell you about our experience with it.

[@diegoestrada56]

1 teacher for 16 kids?! damn, My private highschool is like: 1 teacher for 40 kids. 40 kids is the amount of kids in one classroom everytime, i can imagine my classrooms are massive compared to the U.S ones...

[@lilylopnco]

I live in a small town and we had 30 kids per class on average

[@jackcarlson5227]

The public school where I teach has a 1:16 teacher:student ratio, but that factors in classes team teachers who will often be the 2nd adult in the room and many special ed classes that have ~10 students in them throwing off the averages. A normal math class still has 30+ students at a time.

[@kikivoorburg]

Here in the Netherlands the railway network is public under “NS” (Nederlandse Spoorwegen = “Dutch Railways”). And works extremely well. People here complain a lot about it but the network is extremely efficient and most delays are cleared up reasonably quickly. Longer delays are almost always caused due to renovation of the track. When everything in in control of a single entity, it gives them enough power to clear up delays and issues quickly and efficiently. British rail saw lower passenger numbers because railways generally seen as old and useless compared to the car. Nowadays however we know that the car is generally worse as a transport system than railways and other public transport systems, and demand of these services has thus been increasing since. The UK really needs to bring back British Rail.

[@gurintto]

Now tell us about the Dutch healthcare system and why it's vastly better than the British NHS...

[@kikivoorburg]

Holt Westling I’d love to compare them however I’ve had limited experience with the Dutch system (though from what I have experienced it seems great), and none at all with the NHS. Maybe someone more knowledgable in the subject can fill in for me?

[@lazergurka-smerlin6561]

So basically if you make it private it should a government enforced monopoly?

[@MitchellD249]

I live in Sydney where the railway network is also publically run and have complained endlessly about it, but traveling abroad has really given me perspective on how much of it I take for granted. For example, I heard so many people hype up the London metro, but when I finally used it I was astonished to see just how few stations are wheelchair accessible compared to Sydney. There's lots of little things that you don't really notice until they're absent.

[@AleatorioSinLimites]

""oepsie woepsie! de trein is stukkie wukkie! we sijn heul hard aan t werk om dit te make mss kan je beter fwietsen owo""

[@thomasturner6980]

If u get an A you are worth $1000 to the school If you get a D you get fired

[@cringy7-year-old5]

Schools are treating stupid people worse than smart people. Study finds that schools are giving smart people better grades.

[@jbardolf2805]

Cringy 7-Year-Old I can't tell if you're joking or not.

[@DarthVader1977]

@@cringy7-year-old5 worse* than

[@Metal9040]

Actually most schools profit off kids with disabilities.

[@jerrell1169]

MomoTheBellyDancer At the end of the day schools need to teach you, it’s their product/service and if you aren’t happy with it you can just leave and stop paying like at a barbershop, if you aren’t happy with your haircut you can just stop getting your haircut there and go somewhere else.

[@matrixman8582]

The govt should not be run like a player (business). It should be run like a referee.

[@AD-hw3nk]

Matrix Man I agree

[@contentiouscritic]

I couldn't disagree more. The idea that you think the government should regulate businesses like players of a game is incredibly frightening. The government exists to secure the natural rights of the citizens and for no other reason.

[@matrixman8582]

@@contentiouscritic That's what I mean. It should only enforce natural law. Players should be free to do as they please and be punished if they harm someone. But the punishment must come after the crime, no prior restraint. All economic actors should be innocent until proven guilty.

[@nicholaslist3110]

@@contentiouscritic ' The idea that you think the government should regulate businesses like players of a game is incredibly frightening' What's more frightening?: FDA inspections, or having to take a company at its word that its beef doesn't have E. coli? What's more frightening: OSHA standards, or working in a factory with no enforced safety regulations. What's more frightening: EPA regulations, or allowing toxic materials to compromise the water table?

[@altrag]

@@nicholaslist3110 Oh definitely the government ones. "Citizens" has already been redefined to include "corporations." Just take it to the next logical step and make it mean only corporations, and its obvious that the government should exist primarily to put down those nasty humans that always make demands for things like "clean air and water" that get in the way of making money!

[@joekal1]

Prisons are.the problem. Increased and mandatory sentencing dramatically increased the prison population around Clinton’s presidency. The minority population has borne the brunt of of increased sentencing, overcrowding, and violence. Europe has a different view, especially Scandinavia.

[@crimson6952]

Because minorities commit more crimes but ok. They get increased sentencing for more serious crimes but ok, keep spreading propaganda.

[@alicedeligny9240]

@@crimson6952 You think Europe has no minority groups or something ?

[@megahunterkiller]

Because Europe has different demographics

[@alicedeligny9240]

@@megahunterkiller Care to explain the difference, why demographics and why they matter ? You might as well finish your point, this looks like dogwhistling.

[@megahunterkiller]

​@@alicedeligny9240 The fact that you immediately assumed that I was making some sort of racial remark at the very second I mentioned demographics as being a contributing factor to explaining crime statistics shows how far the paranoia runs with anything that you see that doesn't fit the center-left dogma. The ethnic makeup of a country, whether you like it or not, is extremely insightful to the rate of crime a population of peoples commit. We don't even need to mention race for the sake of the argument. We can stick to whites only for the sake of the argument. The United States doesn't have a single ethnic majority. Vast majorities of ethnicities in American history moved to America over different time periods to different regions of the America for different purposes. In some cases (especially in the Southeastern portion of America where I reside) you'll have Catholic Irish who immigrated America during the 1840s during the Potato Famine living with Protestant Germans who immigrated to America during the 1740s. In some cases, you'll have Irish (known more as Scotch-Irish) fighting with Celtic Irish, both ethnic groups that came to America at different periods of time. Comparing European countries (more specifically Scandinavian countries) to America is an apples to oranges comparison. A negative aspect of diversity is that you see less trust in the government and less social cohesion amongst groups of people. This is seen with how white people stop supporting social programs like food stamps or section 8 housing when they learn that Black Americans benefit from them more than they do. You're suggesting that America (which has no ethnic majority) be more like a country such as Sweden (which is 80.9% Swedish). You are never going to achieve the social cohesion in America that you see in Northern Europe. This is why White Americans commit more crime than their European counterparts.

[@Coolsomeone234]

It really depends on How far capitalism goes. Private health care? Private schools? Private Prisons? Or Even further? Privatised Police? Privatised Fire services? Privatised tax system? Privatised military? Privatised Government?

[@Shadow-iv9ft]

Privatized government sounds like a return to monarchy/dictatorship...

[@contentiouscritic]

"Private Prisons? Or Even further? Privatised Police? Privatised Fire services? Privatised tax system? Privatised military? Privatised Government?" - No to these "Private health care? Private schools? " - Yes to these - Healthcare and education are commodities that are "rivalrous" meaning that they are in competition with others providing the same or similar product. This means that the free-market creates the best quality at the "best price". The remaining services that you put up as a straw-man ARE non-rivalrous, they don't have competitors and must therefor be controlled publicly. Only full on AnCaps make the argument there should be no government, constitutional conservatives don't make that argument.

[@ErdTirdMans]

@@contentiouscritic There are versions of the former I could imagine working - like for instance if privatized prisons were nonprofit and closed or funded based on non-recidivism, lack of violence in the prison, or some other combination of metrics that got a desirable outcome, but there's a real challenge (as with all things metrics-driven) in how to ensure actors do not bake the numbers.

[@stalemateib3600]

There's no such thing as a privatized tax system unless it is a non-payed tax-man system. One positive suggestion, however, would be to allow voluntary donations to particular government programs or spending categories. That way, the money you give would go for what you want---at least, in the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which you donated. Seems like an entirely privatized government would just mean anarchocapitalism---essentially no government at all---well, if nobody had the ability to print money like a Central Bank. There would be private courts, in that scenario, apparently.

[@butterflyspinart]

Private healthcare works fine in Switzerland

[@Schlabbeflicker]

You should also discuss how public sector unions (like prison guard unions) help create this positive feedback loop of mass-incarceration and prison spending.

[@leonzeltser7049]

Our public school system is broken. Let's fix it by creating more schools and existing money between them rather than giving more money to existing schools. I'm sure nothing can go wrong.

[@carterdc3576]

@@trentonwarner5323 It's not giving money to failing schools, but for public schools in general so they can improve. And since they can't be for profit organizations like charter schools, mis-managing of money is going to be way less then what we see in charter schools. Imagine if we didn't give 7,000 per student per year to charter schools and instead to better fund public schools to hire more teachers and give them a decent fucking wage, get better supplies and give a better education to more people. How about you stop making analogies that don't contribute to the debate, because you misread what he said.

[@renkol123]

@@carterdc3576 The public school system constantly mismanages funds nearly everywhere. The difference between charter and public is charter schools that screw up major will shut down while public schools continue, so we hear more and more about them. The problem is no one wants to shut the crap public schools down.

[@FUNZO1975]

That's similar to the absurd argument by leftists that capitalism has been corrupted so let's just throw it away and install a socialist system.. ...because those always work great. #restorecapitalism

[@carterdc3576]

FUNZO1975 except those were communists while most leftists who support socialism want a democratic socialist society. One where the workers collectively control the means of production instead of billionaires or unnecessary managers, and functions politically as a democracy.

[@FUNZO1975]

@@carterdc3576 Sounds like a great idea until you realize that human nature doesn't work that way.

[@timpyrules]

Politicians: "Lets privatise prisons!!" Prison rates skyrocket Politicians: *Suprised Pikachu face*

[@ariandynas]

This is incorrect. It implies that they were surprised.

[@Clay3613]

Running schools like Wal*Mart, surely...nothing will go wrong.

[@Schumanized]

Clay3613 Child tantrum on aisle 2!!

[@taylordavison6849]

@@Schumanized Desk 2, you mean.

[@yournumberonepal]

What's wrong with Wal-Mart?

[@taylordavison6849]

@@yournumberonepal The way they treat their employees and the CEOs' flagrant disregard for the needs of their business.

[@yournumberonepal]

@@taylordavison6849 If the CEO is not looking out for the business they will be replaced by the BoD. If the employees were really being treated as poorly as everyone claims Walmart would need to offer higher levels of pay to attract employees and wouldn't be one of the largest employers in America.

[@finitewehosh6542]

My issue with standardized testing is fairly simple. When I was in school I had 3.4 GPA, honor role, and was taking straight AP classes. I couldn't graduate because I never took foreign language. I later got my hiset, which is harder than the GED, and scored 19. The highest possible score is 20. By all metrics, I should have been able to graduate. But because foreign language wasn't in my list of classes, I was apparently a complete failure and dropout.

[@dylanschnabel4859]

And if you have dyslexia you could basically be the next Einstein, but good luck getting a decent score on the ACT while trying to read and write all those essays in under 35 minutes! I actually had a girlfriend like this in High School. She got 34 in Math and like 35 in Science, but around 20 in both English and Reading because of her Dyslexia. Her Composite Score (the one that gets you into college)? 26. Good luck getting into a decent college with that lol. Still pissed about that to this day even though she turned to be kind of a sociopath.

[@edwardvii1895]

Death to capitalism communism shall rise

[@PhillipCummingsUSA]

"I should have been able to graduate" "I was apparently a complete failure and dropout" So you failed because you didn't enroll in a class that was required to graduate. Both, you, and your guidance counselor are stupid. Or this story is made up.

[@Sean-ne3gx]

I sympathize with you, but I don't think that's the fault of testing, foreign language requirements aren't a surprise at graduation, they also don't have anything to do with standardized testing, that's a graduation prerequisite almost globally. It's backed up by the idea that knowing another language opens up the people and ideas that you can interact with for the rest of your life, and also that the language(s) you think in can actually help you to learn to think in different ways. The problem with standardized testing is that it can standardize a teaching method where students aren't taught practical application or the underlying theory behind something so that they can figure it out for themselves and actually comprehend the ideas being taught, but instead how to take a test and know the answers on it.

[@scyfrix]

That's not a standardized testing problem. That's a curriculum issue. Don't conflate the two, please.

[@haroldellis9721]

The only thing we ought too criminalize is private prisions.

[@zucchinibread7472]

And murder but whatever

[@zucchinibread7472]

Mac Mcskullface well the US gets to murder civilians in the Middle East everyday so idk bout that

[@playboicartiismydad4842]

@@zucchinibread7472 What does the middle east have to do with anything

[@noahschuler6388]

Harold Ellis only reason why private prisons are bad is because of the government

[@playboicartiismydad4842]

@@noahschuler6388 No its because they use Government as a tool to drive profit. So the choice is get rid of private prisons or get rid of the government

[@FuzzyGecko]

My issue with public schools isnt even a learning thing. Its the treatment i received from teachers and employees. My hubby had the same issue :( The best school i went too was actually guam. My teachers talked to everyone, most of my lessons were hands on. Also, I learned to crack a coconut with a machete. Got back to the us and during my few years of highschool all the shop classes were cut. Most specialized classes like home ec and blueprinting were cut. Also all but french spanish and german were cut. All from a school district that insisted on building a new school to house all the extra kids. The shop rooms and everything else sat unused and are still unused. Half the first floor just sits, unused.

[@cinammonstyx7622]

The district I'm in has politicians pushing for an all charter system, which teachers unions, parents etc. are naturally pretty upset about. One way they've countered this is by introducing vocational elements to public schools, so if your kid wants to focus on medicine or finance or the trades, they can do that while still receiving a public education. I haven't gotten to see it in action much, but my hope is that it gives kids a sense that school isn't a waste of time, that we see them as full people who will have to be adults one day.

[@FuzzyGecko]

@cinammonstyx7622 how vocational works around here now is highschoolers need to opt into a special school. So your ether 100% trade or your in the main building. Really bummed me out when it happened. I took the last metal shop and loved it but the next year I was told I had to go to tec to keep going since it was moved. I was doing ap courses in chemistry and I didn't want to give that up :( really would have loved both.

[@CynicalHistorian]

There's a historical change underlying this problem. I'm taking a History of 20th Century Capitalism class, and the central question is "where does neoliberalism come from, what is it, when did it become a thing, and why?" The basic ideology behind privatization is neoliberalism. From the books we've read thus far, the cutoff date for neoliberalism's beginning is Reagan (the earliest argument is for anti-new-dealers in the "Sunbelt" during the 50s). Some argue that neoliberalism is actually the norm for American capitalism, but I'm kinda meh with that. History of Capitalism is actually a relatively new field of study, so there's a lot of innovation in theory and argumentation.

[@hebekiah3623]

Rollo May clearly describes them (neoliberals) as having an agenda since the early '50s in "On Apathy". Part of that agenda was erosion of education so that average folk were educated to the level of "consumer" and not "informed citizen". The Reagan era was precipitated by loss of confidence in leadership and is probably more accurately describes as the post Nixon era. Carter tried to rebuild community but the Boomers had been spooked and decided to get what they could and have been like that ever since. Trump is perfect reflection of that no matter how much many don't like what they see in that mirror. In 1978 Californians voted for Prop 13 to slash property taxes and impoverish schools. That was perhaps the most significant moment.

[@isaacmoraesdornelasdesouza3314]

Hey the guy mentioned by Mr.Beat your Woodrow Wilson video is pretty good

[@AndradeSamir]

You call it neoliberalism,I call it "rich people learning to use socialism for their own benefit",if the regular person can use the power of government to extract from the rich and decrease inequality whats to prevent the rich from using governmental power to do the oposite?

[@Killua607]

Now how biased is this class if you take it in America I wonder ..

[@malteb.9585]

I am studying political science and have read quite a lot of theory on American capitalism and worldwide power struggles, so i would love to see if you agree with how i think neoliberalism took off. I think we should start with the U.S, who had been in a relatively stable position of power after WWII, with them being able to rebuild political order to their liking. The Bretton-Woods system, which was signed by the Allies in 1944, decided the economic order in the world. It started international economic aid projects like the Marshall plan, created the World Bank and WTO to help finance the rebuilding of a war-devastated Europe and gained the U.S political favour. The U.S (together with Russia) was the only one with the capabilities to instate international economical guidelines because of the fact that they escaped the war with most of their national industry still operational, putting them in a position to become leaders in global trade. This went really well for a long time, and though the Russians were a nuisance, GDP continued to grow because of investments in education and infrastructure. The boomers were growing of age and their education made specialisation in the job market really easy. But this growth started to halt in the 1970's, as countries like Germany and Japan had rebuilt their economies and started exporting their products on a worldwide scale as well. Local production started to become less efficient, as the high-skilled workers demanded good pay for their work and resources became more scarce. Politicians saw these developments and started looking for ways to make their country have an easier time competing on a worldwide scale. Instead of relying on an educated and well-off population by investing in a welfare state, as it had been done by most western nations throughout the 70's, it was decided that companies should instead have possibilities for worldwide investments to continue steady growth and to overcome the laws, wages, taxes and price of resources that kept them at bay in their home countries. Nixon and Reagan were the first American presidents to introduce laws that would make international trade more easy, with less government oversight. Great Britain also wanted in on the action, as they lost much in both World Wars and were eager to get back to former strength, adding Margaret Thatcher as one of the main spokespeople for neoliberalism in the early 80's. I could continue with what neoliberlalism is, but i think this heap of text is already more than enough. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it, especially as you're just starting to get to know the subject! PS: I think the main problem with capitalism and neoliberalism in general are the fact that they rely way too much on economic growth. we're competing on a worldwide scale, how much can you grow without destorying on a worldwide scale as well?

[@jorge6207]

The US used to be an example for the world, now they're a cautionary tale.

[@KY_100]

Hopefully we can rid ourselves of our sickness and catch up to the rest of the world.

[@Lycaon1765]

Eh, not really.

[@patrickstultz9577]

@Ambrose Burnside In overall statistics. From first to far from first in Reading, Math, Science. Our poor studies into Government and History. Part of this is because the world used to just be terrible after WW2 and other countries are catching up. But catching up shouldn't mean "whole sale leapfrogging over us". It hurts the country in all area's. If a company can't hire people here who have the skills they need.. and we cut immigration down for student/working visa's.. they'll move their company over seas. The fact that it's cheaper is a bonus for them. In the medical fields, we used to get a LOT of doctors coming from other countries, like India, to get their degree's and then stay and work here. Now, they go back home because India is booming in the medical and engineering fields especially. So in EVERY way.

[@blownspeakersss]

Private prisons is a MUCH larger problem in Australia and the UK. 8% of American prisoners are housed in private prisons, but that number is 15%+ in Australia and the UK.

[@ichliebefettekatzen1492]

@@KY_100 Can't get rid of our sickness when it's already taken over our entire metaphorical body.

[@pixlplague]

"The contracts were immediately re-instated by Trump" Whhaaaaaaat? Really? Never saw that coming... -_- Furthermore, is it me or is this getting laughably close to OCP and the Robocop universe....? Great video as always! Very interesting and I learned a lot about my Southern neighbours once again. Oh and thanks for the bridge :P

[@bopete3204]

12:08 When someone is trying to hide something in a list, it's always the fourth of five.

[@coffeecaesar1443]

Should government services be privatized? Short answer: No. Long answer: Nooooooooooooo.

[@vivi_nguyenxx]

A detailed answer: No, they should not be.

[@sierrasouthwell9237]

I was going to post this exact thing, but it seemed too cliche and overdone.

[@toottoot3410]

Yep they should

[@dumbdumber7203]

Of course they should. The government should not run businesses.

[@gabrielonibudo5710]

@Vlavitir glutginskiya What you said is contradictory

[@Voltanaut]

13:19 - your Fortunate Son joke made me proper lol. Great video!

[@SaraH-jn5db]

I have experience with private, public, and charter schools at different points in my life. I went to a college prep charter high school where my graduating class had 70 students and the education I got was phenomenal. The teachers were strict and we learned at a really fast pace but it meant we studied more than kids at public school could have in double that time, even though we followed many common core guidelines unfortunately. Despite how great my experience was compared to public or private, I dont think charter schools are always the best option. My principal showed a list of all the students that started highschool with me and how many had dropped out. It was a ten page list of kids who either didn't want to or weren't able to succeed at charter. It's a great education for those who have a good support system and a love for school but specifically, only, for that group of people. Anyone who struggled to keep up ended up transferring into public school with an irredeemable GPA and feeling like an absolute failure. Don't think charter schools do well just because we work harder, remember that the people who succeed there aren't the majority because the majority drop out and it ruins their self image and potential for college

[@ILikeCatsMoreThanILikeYou]

One of the things I like most about this channel, is that half the stuff you say I disagree with, but I still wanna watch. Keep it up brother!

[@fleckbigsby5432]

@Brandon Canute Usually that's the case for me with his videos but this one was painful lol

[@TheTGOAC]

Why would you disagree when someone is just showing facts and research? Bias is a bitch

[@Drawoon]

I like how the title says "prisons and schools", like there's a difference....

[@contentiouscritic]

Yeah its a big flaw in the video, prisons are non-rivalrous and schools are rivalrous. They're actually not comparable at all.

[@happi-entity]

@@contentiouscritic the joke . . your expectations

[@potejtomen7264]

you don't get shot in prison

[@blzbud2249]

@@potejtomen7264 Good one

[@remingtonbianchi9866]

The same rates of rape though.

[@wvu05]

Philadelphia tried this a few years ago with its gas utility. Fortunately, they failed in this effort because City Council blocked it. I was dreading just how much it would have cost in the winter if they succeeded.

[@cinnamonkitty3809]

Common Core made me struggle so much in school. A lot of it was so confusing and pointless

[@423adriana]

That was probably because you started school at least five years before Common Core was put into place.

[@killergoose7643]

We had something called Everyday Math in elementary school, it wasn't too complicated but the lessons were very short so you couldn't spent any meaningful time learning new concepts and it also prioritized a bunch of alternative multiplication and division systems that nobody ever uses so I had to relearn the standard system when I switched school districts. The whole vibe was "wtf is the point of any of this?"

[@tamrielterror3800]

This video all of a sudden turned into a Praguer U criticism and I’m here for it

[@litchqueenasenath5995]

Things I wish I learned in public school include finance management, how to apply for a loan or a job or a mortgage, how taxes work at a basic level so I can do my own paperwork, how to obtain and register a vehicle, you know, shit you need to do almost every day or at least every few years or so when you're an adult.

[@stepheningersoll981]

How old are you? At my high school, everyone was required to take a personal finance course in order to pass high school. The course covered almost all of that.

[@litchqueenasenath5995]

@@stepheningersoll981 I'm in my early 20s, graduated 2014

[@Rune3100]

@@stepheningersoll981 graduated 2012, the closes I got to any of that was a statistics course senior year and how to write a check as a writing exercise in like 2nd grade

[@hteixeiraify]

I think it is assumed that a good education would enable you to learn those things on your own. Forms, taxes, it all changes over time. You need the intelectual tools to learn new things, not to be trained in checking the boxes of adults life.

[@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat]

Oh privatization, the abusive ex of the political/economic world.

[@theatheistpaladin]

Here come the raging libertarians and anarcho-capitalists.

[@averageconsumer0]

yeah because the socialist alternative is so much better, jusk ask north korea

[@YouADamnWitch]

@@averageconsumer0 Yes the worst example proves all examples. Its like saying that I saw a white guy smoking meth, and therefore all white people smoke meth.

[@averageconsumer0]

@@YouADamnWitch marxist socialism has failed everywere it has been tried

[@jiggerypokery3761]

@@averageconsumer0 Or just ask Finland who ranks #1 in the world for less money. That is the alternative we want in the US. Should be desirable to conservatives because it's saving money for the government. When a person in the US says socialism they mean a country like Finland.

[@DragonsREpic]

When profit is above people. Everyone loses I went to public yet I didn't know many things I needed as an adult It just shows schooling in general is a joke

[@reflectedcrosssite2848]

@M.V.P. what on earth do atheists have to do with this

[@Fafnd]

@@reflectedcrosssite2848 he wants to pick on a minority because his adolescent brain can't handle being humane.

[@osteelgen8225]

Are you advocating for no school or?

[@YvonneHoerde]

Well, you can read, you can write and you know how to work with a computer... I bet a few of these skills you learnt at school... I am not really convinced that school as a whole is a joke. But it certainly does not provide you with EVERYTHING you will ever need in life. Some things, you will have to do yourself and find out yourself later on....

[@bernicegoldham1509]

When I say the public school system is broken... I'm specifically referencing the curriculum... Or what passes for it in far too many states.

[@MegaMementoMori]

About schools "Everyone needs 4 vice principles for some reason" - exactly for the reason that they are public. A private school would not waste money on unneeded staff. I think that each school should be forced to disclose the standardized test results of their students on the admissions page, that would make them more likely to attempt to provide high quality services.

[@seanj4119]

There's a lot of paperwork involved in running a school. More staff means more attention paid per student. That's more time for one-on-one tutoring and counseling, gathering input for improving school programs, mediating disputes between students, and more. A public school's first priority is its students, so all available funds go towards maintaining programs that help them. If they're not doing well, that usually means they need more money. A private school's first priority is profit, which is practically guaranteed once tuition is paid at the start of the year. After that, their priority becomes cutting costs and not looking so bad that it undermines their marketing. In the end, to them, students are just dead weights with money bags attached.

[@MegaMementoMori]

​@@seanj4119 To a private school, the children and their parents are customers, and as the saying goes, customer is the king. The marketing you are treating with such contempt is the motivation to improve their services (people really look at the admission rates to good universities). Meanwhile, in public school, kids are irrelevant, because the job of it's principal is more aligned with the current politicians in power then with the results of students. Besides, if they hire 4 vice principals, and the additional paperwork does no good, it is the private school that has the motivation to get rid of them, not the public one.

[@fleckbigsby5432]

@@seanj4119 A public school's first priority is nothing because it's funded by an endless supply of tax dollars. A private school's first priority is its students because if they produce an inferior product they will go out of business. I mean, have you ever seen a "private school teacher strike?" Didn't think so. But public school teacher unions go on strike all the time. Is that because their 'first priority is their students?'

[@studiogreyfox1226]

Anytime He refers to pragerU i just go "Heheheheehheh here we go again" XD

[@cranberrysos]

I went to an alternative highschool school, like we were still public and we stayed under the school district umbrella. However during my era, youd have to shadow there for a day and write a short little essay on why you wanted to go (though the essay was mostly for writing level placement) We had a much much smaller student population, about 130 on average. Heavily underfunded and understaffed, but also during my time there we were more or less left to our own devices. We knew all our teachers by first name, and I became rather close with a lot of them. I mean, hell I still play fiddle with my old fiddle teacher! It was still shit, because that's just how highschool goes. But I'm incredibly lucky I got to go the the "burnout" school. Because at least there I was care for, and seen as a person and not a part of the student body.

[@calmguru1274]

That common core joke with the vietnam flash back was fucking great man. These videos can be depressing but those laughs are always so good.

[@technobabble7702]

I was homeschooled (We used videos that were sent over the mail on a hard-drive) I don't think I got the best education from it, but I'm doing really well in college. The biggest problem that came from being homeschooled is that I am utterly socially inept.

[@whoareyou1034]

I did well socially when I was homeschooled.

[@doll_dress_swap12]

@@whoareyou1034 As another homeschooled alumni, I'd say socialization is something that varies widely from family to family. If the parents make a point to keep thier children active and involved with their peers, and keep the academic side of things organized, it can be great! Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way, especially if the parents are doing it for the wrong reasons - such as a fear based mindset that is centered around trying to shelter and indoctrinate their kids instead of focusing on academics. I'm far from being the worst case out there, but my personal experience is that it can be pretty lacking.

[@Soitisisit]

Eh. I'm socially inept too and I graduated public school.

[@whoareyou1034]

@@doll_dress_swap12 true. It does vary from family to family or individual to individual. I am sure two children in the same house hold that were homeschooled could probably have different social lives.

[@kueapel911]

I've grown in private school, it was a strict competing school, thriving in it's different way from other school, and waaaaayyy better than public schools. In south east asia, that is the norm. Private schools are way better than public schools. In fact, almost every private companies are way better than the public services. looking at this video, idk why it is the exact opposite in USA.

[@victorpurificacao2855]

Same in Brazil.

[@kueapel911]

@Dr.Science it's the same in SEA, only that the customer won't buy their service unless it's better than the cheap public service

[@sktsjulianm7566]

@@kueapel911 its becuse americans are educated to become ignorant. By their parents, by their schools, etc. Not intentionlly; their parents are ignorant too; the schools are run by ignorant people and the educational system has ignorant values. Of course you cant just generalize all americans; but many "american" values are based on ignorance. I mean they have a 2 PARTY SYSTEM. And feel like the most democratic country in the world with this system. The whole country is just a big game of pick-a-flag; you choose side and then hate the other side. And while your at it, you become as biased and ignorant bout other values than your own, as possible. And yes, this is a problem not just in the US. Germany has a fair share of ignorance too, as i have experienced it living here since my birth

[@carlesbouplaza5719]

@@sktsjulianm7566 Man you are SO right, great comment

[@kingofthespazs]

Private schools in America and most privatized services are pretty good in America the places where private services are bad the public ones are still normally worse. Cept prisons and hospitals that serve low income and rural areas

[@tomio8072]

Damn this should be taught in/ wait...

[@jtierney89]

8:59 used the nhs system as a drunk 18 year old galavanting through Europe. Broke my ankle drunkenly, was in an out in 30 minutes and it cost me 7 euro

[@cosmonautsergei1934]

I went to a charter school for middle school and I have to say that my education was above average and it offered an alternative to my public school district, which was turning to shit at the time. I am now in a public Highschool though.

[@TheJarJarKinks]

I went to a public middle school and got above average education. You just gotta look, honestly. Edit: by you, I generally mean your parents

[@leosanalien9904]

The familiar voice of Lindsay Ellis. The collaboration that I never thought of. I guess people I follow find each other just like how I find them.

[@tacticalbacon7386]

Much better than the Chipmunk he had before.

[@Phrenotopia]

Oh! That's who that was! It really sounded familiar and very professional. Honestly, I thought Will just ordered someone on Fiverr, which would be a great idea to start with. Having a different person read the quotes really makes theses stand out.

[@MichiganUSASingaporeSEAsia]

Operating like a business is scary and unethical when applying it to government institutions

[@techhelpportal7778]

Liberal bigot

[@FreyjaTheWarrior]

@@techhelpportal7778 So much for the Rational Right. Can't even argue with facts and just using emotions.

[@FolsomC]

That's... not what "bigot" means there, Tech Help Portal. Calling a certain mode of operation unethical doesn't show intolerance toward any particular group or person.

[@revspikejonez]

@@techhelpportal7778 couldn't pay attention to the video, huh?

[@levigray7690]

Well I would say that after a certain point of privatisation it starts becoming a Corpatacracy. I do think emergency service (Firefighters and Police) shouldn't be privatised, while certain services (such as post, schools, hospitals, "public" transport, and infrastructure) should be partially privatized. I would like to discuss this.

[@stephenmcdonagh2795]

Never trust the words, "None Profit Organisation". From my experience, they simply pay themselves large amounts of money instead.

[@nic12344]

9:34 "If you have a burger joint in your town and a second burger joint opens up, overall demand for burgers incerases." That's wrong! Overall SUPPLY will increase initially, but overall demand might stay the same. If the demand does increase naturally, market equilibrium will be obtained and both burger joints will prosper. However, if the demand does not increase, the burger joints will have to take action, by decreasing their supply and/or by trying to increase the demand with marketing and advertising, to reach market equilibrium.

[@dstblj5222]

That depends if the demand is elastic or inelastic, market logic changes between the two.

[@nic12344]

@@dstblj5222 Demand elasticity has very little to do with this! Let's take a very inelastic product like petrol. If a new gas station opens up, people won't drive more and need more petrol in reaction to it. Therefore, the overall demand will stay the same. Now, let's take a very elastic product, cars. If a new car dealership opens up, people might want to change their car, but they won't need or want a second car in reaction to it. Therfore, the overall demand will stay the same. You see, with both elastic and inelastic demand products, the change in overall demand in the market after the introduction of a new player is null!

[@queenthinng4822]

You’re tight with Lindsay Ellis? That’s great!

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

11:15 in my experience + stuff I’ve learned, the brokenness of public schools is mainly due to the outdated structures of a lot of them and, most definitely, underfunding and budget cuts.

[@dwwolf4636]

Nope. Teacher Unions. DoEd guidelines. Restorative justice. = no discipline and all students suffer due to the 5% that misbehave in class...continuously.

[@thecollinanderson]

I love how you put these together in the same episode.

[@Crick1952]

4:26 Lindsey Ellis! I'd recognize that voice anywhere

[@kenharris5390]

From the perspective of my dotage, when public services are privatized, the price goes up and the service goes down. The biggest joke is their Mission Statement, which says all the things they stand for, just like politicians.

[@shawnbero4728]

I don't really understand your burger joint analogy. I can see that with the opening of a second burger joint, supply of burgers would increase but not really demand. I can't really see a significant percentage of the burger eating population increasing or the current percentage eating burgers more often. In fact I kinda see that burger joints would have the same problem as the charter schools. Now both are competing for the same customer base in that area. This is by no means an endorsement of charter schools, there are plenty of problems with those, but unless there is a concept I am missing here I'm afraid your argument is weakened by trying to apply supply and demand toward charter schools. If I am missing something here I would be happy to say I am wrong about this.

[@jonathantybirk]

Yeah, I was also wondering about that. I think most businesses would benefit greatly from being a monopoly, it's just the rest of us that suffers.

[@Lucy-ng7cw]

Shawn Bero I think what he may mean is that a burger joint can compete with other restaurants. So the can take away from pizza places or people can start eating more food. There is no extra group of students to draw from when a new school opens and students don’t go to multiple schools at once. I agree though; I didn’t understand his analogy either.

[@sierrasouthwell9237]

@@Lucy-ng7cw When restaurants and similar retail chains group together, they increase traffic towards their location, leading to increased business for both businesses. Think strip malls.

[@mikeandyholloway]

@@sierrasouthwell9237 That doesn't create demand it just centralizes it: People are just buying burgers near retail chains instead of buying burgers elsewhere. Creating demand for burgers means either increasing the amount of food people want by X burgers or reducing demand for not-burgers by X, such that burger demand increases.

[@sierrasouthwell9237]

@@mikeandyholloway Well, it increases demand for the stores grouped together, albiet away from the stores not grouped near. I wasn't suggesting that grouping can increase demand all together, but it can increase demand on a relative scale, which I think is what Knowing Better is trying to get at. Then again, he might just be trying to get at the fact that demand for burgers isn't fixed like the demand for schooling is. I mean, if a Taco Bell opened in a town where there was only burger joints, overall demand for fast food would go up because they would bring put people who like tacos but not burgers, thus increasing demand (although some of that demand would be pulled from the existing burger joints.)

[@josephplatt7622]

This hits harder after learning how disastrous school choice ended up being for Arizona's budget.

[@skooks3]

Am I the only one that saw the Prager U analogy with school buses racing and cringed? I suppose it fits in with their lack of concern for children.

[@caesarspeaks]

Vlavitir glutginskiya it wouldn’t be so garbage if we taxed the rich more

[@contentiouscritic]

@@caesarspeaks No, it would still be garbage. For the same reason the DMV is garbage. Because the government monopoly means that there is no competition, no competition means no incentive to actually be quality. You realize that many of the worst public schools in LA for example, get more money per student than many charter / private schools that do a better job. This is because there is no school choice, students are stuck in the school for their area and can't go somewhere else if the school sucks. The true solution is to allow school choice and provide vouchers for the same amount the gov would have paid per student in public schooling anyway.

[@mo.ka.9661]

@@caesarspeaks how much do you think we tax them?

[@OutSideTheBoxFormat]

@@caesarspeaks Ask New York State how that's working out for them. They're basically begging the rich not leave , this year along 2 billion less have been collected. The top 20% earners account for a little over 75% of taxable income collected. Who's paying their fair share now? Who creates the jobs? Poor people? Not.

[@PizzaManager101]

Sucker Free you can invest in a place without living in it. the middle class is the consumer base. so really, in service industries the location of the rich is irrelevant, since it relies on consumers (the middle class). and in manufacturing, the location of everyone but the labor is irrelevant, since you later ship off the manufactured goods. So no, the rich being in new york doesn’t “make jobs”.

[@theamhway]

"Government schools not doing well" Normal person : Govt should improve schools, and fund them more. 'Murrican: let's pay significantly more for a non standardised non subsidised for-profit school!

[@flamefusion8963]

Give more funding to a failed system. Good solution.

[@theamhway]

@@flamefusion8963 it's failing because of the lack of funding.

[@flamefusion8963]

@@theamhway then why have we been experiencing the drastic increase in spending for the DOED and experiencing worse national median and average test results progressively. It is because standardized systems like common core that don't meet every individual student's needs doesn't work.

[@Zanzopan]

@@flamefusion8963 Charter Schools have shown the do worse despite being able to edit their student population. This is a systematic attempt to dismantle the public education system by the rich oligarchs and right wing religious zealots. That is all it is.

[@flamefusion8963]

@@Zanzopan In terms of what, they perform better on all tests of relative intelligence in all categories (math, english, science).

[@loganberlew3191]

I went to a private school, as well as currently attending a private college, and my experience in highschool was not only more sociable but I got a far better education then my friends who went to public school

[@FyreTeGo]

I went to US accredited private schools in my country and everyone around me was an overachiever while I was a B student. And now in uni, surrounded by people from all schools (mostly public), I became the "overachiever". Internationally, private schools do help especially in developing countries like mine.