You said to stay out of the comments section, so of course I went right to it. It just reinforced my perception that most major platforms are not conducive to productive conversation. Half of the comments were directly contradicted by the information in the video and provided without evidence.
I thought the video was very informative, but I did have one criticism that I think is actually pretty major. Near the end they present the claim that our public schools are in trouble as fact, without pointing to specific evidence. I think this was a huge error that plays into the hands of those who want to dismantle the public school system (and as evidenced by the comments, a lot of angry commenters made the claim that public schools are awful.
This made me think of this poll (from 2016, but I couldn't find more recent data) where most parents were satisfied with their own schools but dissatisfied with public education in the US (other people's schools must be bad). https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/08/23/490380129/americans-like-their-schools-just-fine-but-not-yours Of course pandemic-related issues and the conservative attack on public schooling will have changed how people feel, but I think the results are revealing of a disconnect we see on various levels. "Similarly, although the Gallup poll found public approval of U.S. education at a low ebb, parents like their own kids' schools. Seventy-six percent say they are satisfied with the education their oldest child has been receiving. That figure has been pretty stable for 16 years. And there's no partisan divide on that question at all."
This is something we see in politics, quoted in the same article: "For example, this month Gallup reported that just 18 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. However, the last time they asked, 54 percent approved of the job their own representative was doing."
And also in perceptions of crime. Alec Karakatsanis looks at data that indicates that people have a better idea of the crime levels in their local area (though still inflated), but are way off when it comes to national crime rates because the media we consume about national crime statistics can't be tempered by our own personal experiences - https://equalityalec.substack.com/p/assembling-a-crime-wave
I worry about uncritically accepting the fact that public schools in general are in trouble when of course our perceptions are biased by the specific cases of book bans and anti-LGBT policies in specific districts/states and how that might lead more people to accept a drastic alternative like vouchers/school choice even if their own districts are fine! Not to mention I wonder how many people who regularly opine on public schools have worked in a public school or have kids in a public school.
You said to stay out of the comments section, so of course I went right to it. It just reinforced my perception that most major platforms are not conducive to productive conversation. Half of the comments were directly contradicted by the information in the video and provided without evidence.
I thought the video was very informative, but I did have one criticism that I think is actually pretty major. Near the end they present the claim that our public schools are in trouble as fact, without pointing to specific evidence. I think this was a huge error that plays into the hands of those who want to dismantle the public school system (and as evidenced by the comments, a lot of angry commenters made the claim that public schools are awful.
This made me think of this poll (from 2016, but I couldn't find more recent data) where most parents were satisfied with their own schools but dissatisfied with public education in the US (other people's schools must be bad). https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/08/23/490380129/americans-like-their-schools-just-fine-but-not-yours Of course pandemic-related issues and the conservative attack on public schooling will have changed how people feel, but I think the results are revealing of a disconnect we see on various levels. "Similarly, although the Gallup poll found public approval of U.S. education at a low ebb, parents like their own kids' schools. Seventy-six percent say they are satisfied with the education their oldest child has been receiving. That figure has been pretty stable for 16 years. And there's no partisan divide on that question at all."
This is something we see in politics, quoted in the same article: "For example, this month Gallup reported that just 18 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. However, the last time they asked, 54 percent approved of the job their own representative was doing."
And also in perceptions of crime. Alec Karakatsanis looks at data that indicates that people have a better idea of the crime levels in their local area (though still inflated), but are way off when it comes to national crime rates because the media we consume about national crime statistics can't be tempered by our own personal experiences - https://equalityalec.substack.com/p/assembling-a-crime-wave
I worry about uncritically accepting the fact that public schools in general are in trouble when of course our perceptions are biased by the specific cases of book bans and anti-LGBT policies in specific districts/states and how that might lead more people to accept a drastic alternative like vouchers/school choice even if their own districts are fine! Not to mention I wonder how many people who regularly opine on public schools have worked in a public school or have kids in a public school.