<p>TL:DR. Not good.</p>
<p>the problem is not that not enough money is being spent. the problem is HOW the money is spent</p>
<p>… and how much is extorted! </p>
<p>I’m not hopeful.</p>
<p>And if you were a Zuckerberg, you’d look at this and wonder if your money wouldn’t be better spent some other way. Not to mention if you are a NJ taxpayer, you’d feel the same way that Christie is portrayed at the beginning, where he says we’re paying a premium price for a lousy product. Most of the money being wasted is coming from outside Newark. </p>
<p>I am afraid that you are simply looking at an utterly intractable result of adverse selection occurring over decades. </p>
<p>I hope that this is a wake up call to @soccerguy315 and @xiggi comments. There is a lot of money floating around but the waste and the graft just make things that much harder to raise more money in the future. Especially true when budgets are tight and there are so many other competing initiatives.</p>
<p>But like @dadx, I am not entirely hopeful. Sigh.</p>
<p>Magazine writers somehow have all the answers. Surprised they work for so little.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg might have a share of the blame if indeed this is a fiasco. I don’t like his reputed complaint to Mayor Booker, “Done is better than perfect.” No. Good ideas often take time to implement properly. Maybe there are no good ideas to begin with regarding Newark Public Schools.</p>
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<p>You said “good”, not “perfect” so it is that same thing that he is saying. It is better to get a good idea done than wait forever for the perfect idea to be done.</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem that Zuckerberg is much to blame. He said he knows very little about the education system and was willing to step in and pay when the unions wanted back pay. That is a lot better than someone pretending they know a lot and digging in their heels when the going gets rough.</p>
<p>I understand your point Fluffy, but if the quote from Zuckerberg is accurate, it is just typical of an attitude imposed upon us since PCs and e-commerce have become commonplace. It’s what some derisively call “Microsoft standards,” which is the practice of issuing a product to the market with all sorts of flaws, and worrying about fixing it later. This corporate practice is accepted by American society today with little complaint. As long as the company just issues periodic “updates” we all seem to be fine with flaws, no matter how frustrating.</p>
<p>I don’t think that we should accept that kind of process in services like the public schools.</p>
<p>Sorry, if you were to tell me that 15 year old kids in Newark who used to read at a fourth grade level are now reading at a 7th grade level, I think that’s a terrific outcome. The fact that it’s flawed… clearly, a 15 year old should be doing high school work… doesn’t mean that it’s not fantastic progress.</p>
<p>The flaws are frustrating, but in places like Newark the system is so undeniably and horribly broken that even a moderate improvement seems worth cheering about.</p>
<p>how much is the current budget per student? isnt it already very high?</p>
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<p>I think the Zuckerberg quote is probably referencing the saying “the perfect is the enemy of the good”, which I had never heard until my mid-adult life. I think there is profound wisdom in it, as perfectionism can become an excuse for inaction, or unending study. As someone who has more than his share of procrastination and perfectionism, I agree with the premise, even if I’m sometimes guilty of the fault. </p>
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<p>I am not sure what the comment means, but the wake up calls came a long time ago. How long ago was it that A nation at risk opus came out? </p>
<p>The story depicted in the article is all about undue expectations placed on private funding in education. While “we” have allowed the education system to collapse on its own weight of corruption, lack of accountability, economic segregation, and utter mediocrity in hiring and training for MORE than 50 years, “we” also expect short term miracles and quick solutions. </p>
<p>Two hundred millions should make a difference, but it is pittance when having to feed a small army of “experts” who are long on theories and fads but short on making them work in a messed up environment that STILL requires protracted negotiations with the people who created the problems in the first place. And pay them off. </p>
<p>Everyone expects short term results when the solution is none other than a deep and complete overhaul of the system. We try to save a few today and end up losing even more of the future generations. Real educators can and should save our education system. Not corrupt politicians and union leaders. </p>
<p>It will take more money, but also the courage to kick the rotten apples to the curb. </p>
<p>maybe we need an army of tiger moms to come up with a battleplan for educating students. They could do more with less money, I’m sure of that.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids </p>
<p>I haven’t read the article, but I’m sure many of the kids are not unlike those who inhabit my own neighborhood. I think I could whip those kids into shape :)</p>
<p>I think I missed my calling! </p>
<p>I read an article last year about a Newark charter school(I wish like hell I remembered the name) where the kids are challenged with Shakespeare, Latin and other curriculum that one would find in a private school setting. If memory serves me, the kids struggle initially but typically rise to the challenge and blossom at the school. They go off to college in great numbers. I wish I still had the link. I would post it. </p>
<p>FYI … in case you missed it, here is an addendum to the story. Ras Baraka, a principal at Central High School and a sharp critic of Newark School Superintendent Cami Anderson’s plan to reform the district’s schools, won last night with 54 percent of the vote.</p>
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<p>I don’t necessarily agree with this. There are similar business examples that go back further. Toyota brought process improvement and quality programs to the forefront … and one of their main mantras is “do not let best get in the way of better”. Their improvement culture is based on constantly experimenting … adopting the changes that work everywhere and tossing the experiments that failed. Overall … be moving forward with the process at all time … never fall to “analysis paralysis”. </p>
<p>IMO I think most education systems (and most American companies) are much closer to “analysis paralysis” (and fear of change) than to reckless process updates.</p>
<p>Since the state, not the city, runs the Newark School system, ask them what they did with the money.</p>
<p>And since Cami Anderson–state-imposed superintendent–treats the families of Newark like natives to be subdued, it’s no wonder her backer lost the mayoral election.</p>
<p>Newark will continue to be be a mess no matter how much money is wasted I mean invested there. It is propped up by such state investments as the Rutgers U campus and tax breaks given to Prudential by the state to locate HQ there.</p>