comment: >
  
  School should never be a profit machine. Hot take.
context: While libertarian advocacy groups call for a “de-centralized network of schools,” to resemble what existed for American schooling in the nineteenth century, before Horace Mann, the truth is that before it became a universal system of “government funded and operated schools,” schooling in America was an uncoordinated, free-for-all that left most children undereducated, which is exactly where the contemporary school choice movement is headed.  
  Leaders of the anti-public school movement promote bootleg homeschools and “micro-schools” as innovative alternatives to public schools, using declines in test scores as the rationale for abandoning the public system. 
  Ironically, however, homeschoolers are not required to provide any evidence of student learning in most states. 
  This includes Arizona, whose ESA voucher program is taxpayer-funded with no standards. Parents can award a high school diploma based on any criteria they want. According to Ed Choice, the average Arizona ESA account value on January 17, 2023 exceeded $15,500 per year per student. (On January 18, the site updated that figure to $11,332.) 
  This is akin to an insurance company giving the parent of an ill child a payout to spend on a cure—with no stipulation that the parent goes to a licensed physician or that anyone reports back on the child’s health. 
  Certainly, there are responsible homeschoolers who have developed sound programs to educate and socialize their child. But without requirements to provide sound evidence of learning, a sudden spike in homeschooling should be a cause for alarm, not celebration. >
  
  That's depressing and terrifying for the future. >
  
  The system is broken wholesale. It's as if we are back in 1850 Britain, where certain kids will only learn from the school of the Artful Dodger. >
  
  I won't be surprised if you guys are ~~soon~~ already getting a variation of the poor laws, debtor's prisons and workhouses.
  It'll be a nice symmetry to the Victorian Era social morality that's coming up after Roe V. Wade. >
  
  If Republicans had their way, companies could charge unlimited interest and fees, bankers could sell complete bullshit securities and loans,  bankruptcy would be impossible for any entity besides corporations and debtor's prison would absolutely be a thing. >
  
  If you are up for a long depressing classic book, Upton Sinclair's the Jungle paints a vivid picture of the kind of society republican leadership wants. >
  
  The Jungle is a book and a documentary. Sinclair Lewis perfectly diagrammed what our dystopian future looks to be. >
  
  People keep on saying the future dystopia will be the Handmaid's Tale, but the fact of the matter is that Saudi Arabia and Iran have been around for decades.
  It's not that it won't be that bad (young people aren't dying for no reason in Iran), it's just that it is mundane, and also extraordinarily possible, because it was history.
  America pretended that when 1984 came and went, they dodged a bullet. Unfortunately, that was when things were in the middle of rolling downhill. >
  
  We quite literally are already living in r/aboringdystopia >
  
  We are fighting off the moms4 Liberty scammers up here in PA. They pick women with no life, call them joyful warriors, get them riled up over made up nonsense and run them on school boards. 
  The book bans are pure nonsense.
  We have a good amount of communities fighting them off but they have taken over 2 school boards so far.
  The worst part is they don’t even have kids in the school districts that they are fighting about.
  So the if you have time and vengeance on your hands, go to Facebook and find your local Moms4liberty nightmare. Make friends, make notes, get involved and keep our public institutions safe from these racist homophobic right wing nutjobs.
  Thank you >
  
  Moms for Christian Nationalism is what they should be called, more appropriately. >
  
  Moms for Liberty sounds about right.
  Fits right alongside stuff like:
  
  Ministry of Truth
  Ministry of Peace
  Ministry of Love
  Ministry of Plenty
  Democratic People's Republic of Korea >
  
  As a former teacher,  let me tell you how scary it is how many children just....... disappear. I've reported multiple cases with very little follow up. It seems that sometimes a parent can just say they are going to home school,  and then the state washed their hands. Heartbreaking and terrifying >
  
  Yup. I had that happen so many times last year. A kid went away for months, came back, and then left again. No one knew where they went. They just dropped. Our state DHS is so understaffed they can't even investigate. Our schools are so understaffed they even thought to bring DHS workers to the schools to keep them open when half the schools shut down due to astronomically high covid cases. We are in full suck in Oklahoma, and there are countless kids suffering here. >
  
  Yeah I'm in NJ and it was terrible here too. I don't think it's still come back really. But the educational system a a whole is so messed up here in the US that is a catastrophe. I think that accounts for a lot of our current problems as well. >
  
  For me the math has always been simple. Any money that goes to corporate profits does not go towards helping the children learn. >
  
  How-to guide to defund DOE: Step 1 vouchers to supplement private schooling for the rich. Step 2 watch private schools pull the teachers over through increased wages. Step 3 close under funded public schools due to student attrition. Step 4 decrease vouchers to 0. Step 5 reduce private school staff wages to increase profits. Step 6 mission complete when the rich have the education and the poor are illiterate indentured workers. >
  
  Step 0.5, begin a social campaign to gin up resentment of public school through anti-CRT and LGBTQ+ propaganda.
  Step 7 - celebrate returning to the education of the Antebellum South >
  
  This is it. In the south I don’t hear people saying they want to keep their kids homeschooled because they’re worried about mass shootings. They’re worried their kid will meet a gay person and catch it somehow, because they genuinely believe that can happen because somehow that makes sense than the truth that sometimes people are just gay. >
  
  Yeah, the stereotype about southerners being illiterate dates back to the slave economy. It was illegal to educate slaves and poor whites had no access to education. There were schools in the cities, but only the elite children attended.
  Uneducated underserved populace is easily manipulated. If you want to see the ideal country for elites, look no further back than 1860 in the south. Their direct ancestors are still here. >
  
  School Privatizers:  Never believe what people who make money on something say about it.