I am not a leftist and do not share Cassie's values. I want education to cultivate expertise and virtue, and I think the prospect of school as the great equalizer is basically doomed.
Even for those who share Cassie's frame, though, ability grouping is the wrong target. Why?
For the same reason busing repeatedly failed: In a world with freedom of movement, you cannot force people long-term into environments that they do not want to be in. You can entice. You can cajole. You cannot coerce.
What happens when public schools are worse for advanced students than private schools? Social stratification increases dramatically. If the public system rejects its duty to a population, people with resources and connections will leave. People with no resources and no connections will take what they are given, often not even realizing their own deprivation.
What happens when an area has a lot of struggling students? Parents of students who are not struggling leave. Very reliably, very consistently. They go elsewhere.
There's been a generations-long tug-of-war between education "progressives" (a misnomer at this point; they have mostly only old and failed answers served up on repeat, nothing progressive about it) and parents: focus public schools on equalization of the disadvantaged -> parents decamp for suburbs and private schools -> schools become less able to serve more prepared students -> more parents decamp.
This serves nobody.
If you want people in a system, you have to include them as legitimate parts of the population you're trying to serve. You have to treat their kids as people whose successes are worth celebrating, whose progress is worth fighting for. Otherwise, in the name of serving the disadvantaged you will ensure that the only kids getting a serious education are the ones with the money and will to opt out.
Downward equalization serves no children well.
OpenAI frontier models and Codex are now generally available on AWS, giving enterprises a new way to build on Amazon Bedrock with OpenAI through the security, compliance, and governance workflows they already use.
This is also the beginning of a broader expansion of OpenAI capabilities on AWS, including future availability for cybersecurity capabilities like Daybreak.
https://t.co/vMws0YU6Q3
“Change the Party?” The Democratic Party?!
Call me crazy, but I think pro-terrorist, anti-American, antisemitic, anti-AAPI, misogynist, xenophobic, politically repellent Hasan Piker fanboys should go form their OWN party — and get the f*** out of ours! (1/3)
Saikat's special guest is Hasan Piker, who has said such things as:
- America "deserved 9/11"
- Orthodox Jews are "inbred"
- He'd "vote for Hamas"
- "No issue with" Hezbollah
- Mao Zedong's Little Red Book was "really, really special"
The truth is, Hasan Piker IS the enemy, because he's a guy who says extremist stuff that hurts America in order to build his personal brand. Extremist grifters, and the platforms that enable them, ARE the enemy.
I just think he's like... a bad guy? It doesn't surprise me that he's popular but he comes across as cruel, vindictive, himbo idiot who would have trouble carrying on a remotely complex conversation. So he's basically a perfect c2026 "political" "commentator."
NEWS: Lina Khan has launched an economic policy center that will train the next generation of lawyers and also publish research that can be turned into actionable policy.
Follow the center @law_and_economy