Do you think the department of education writes the textbooks, standardized tests (SAT, ACT, etc.), grading and student management software, learning management systems (Google Classroom, Canvas), or manufactures its own classroom tech (Chromebooks, tablets)?

Each one of those has a bunch of particular nuances, but in general - yeah, I think they could and should in a lot of those cases

The education system is full of for-profit businesses that can jack up the prices, and they do.

Yeah, it’s a big problem with a lot of little parts to be tackled

The DOE simply doesn’t have the resources to create these things themselves

Then government should give them the resources (actually, I think a whole separate agency that develops open source software for any government agency or anyone else who wants to use them should be established, but that’s kind of besides the point).

and would cost them far more if they tried

I don’t think that’s true, and even if it were I think we should be willing to pay premium to make sure essential systems that support the public good are being administered in democratic ways (e.g. by public agencies that are required to give public reports to elected lawmakers and be subject to citizens’ FOIA requests).

the business model has existed forever

A lot of stupid ideas hang on for a really long time. Like, we still have monarchies in the 21st century world.

Personally, I’m more concerned with the use of Google products in schools. A company that’s sole business is harvesting user data and selling it to advertisers should have no place in schools or children’s products. But they’ve embedded themselves into everything so people just accept it at the cost of privacy

I 100% agree this is a significant problem too, I just haven’t come across any good articles about it recently

Exactly, they’re a captive audience, and moreover they are legally incompetent to consent to a contracted business relationship like this

If this was a department of education AI or even some kind of transparently administered non-profit organization I’d be fine with this, but the fact that this is being developed for some for profit company that can just jack their rates and cut off public schools whenever they want to is bullshit. Like, I’m not opposed to the technology of LLMs at all, I think they’re actually pretty neat, but our social and economic systems have a lot of exploitative trash in them that cool technologies can inadvertently exacerbate.

TBH I don’t want have to change at all, I’m just saying in the magic genie scenario I’d wish that people agreed with me

An American security contractor and a Chinese embassy employee are at a bar. The American says, “I gotta say, your propaganda is impressive. You sure know how to keep your people in line.”

“Oh, you’re too gracious,” the embassy worker says. “And besides, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda.”

The contractor chokes on his drink and gives his friend a bewildered look.

“What are you talking about? There’s no propaganda in America.”

I wish I was persuasive

MARTIN: It’s interesting, 'cause I covered the White House in the administration of George H. W. Bush, and I knew about it. But then when I’ve talked to colleagues about it, they didn’t know about it, and people are continually surprised.

Maybe because news publishers like NPR and CNN never put that detail in the headlines of their stories that brush up against this open secret

If the Wikipedia page on expungement is accurate there is some sort of process where it will get sealed from public view after a certain amount of time has passed.

I do agree if this is a one off thing it shouldn’t haunt the rest of her life, especially given the fact that we’re talking about a thirteen year old who was a victim of (at best) extremely negligent caregiving.

Conservatives when a criminal justice system is punishing someone they don’t like: “Blood for the blood god!”

Conservatives when someone’s held accountable for a hate crime: “What has happened to our humanity?!”

The President Called all the Artists by Micah Sommersmith

Campaigners say further physical and mental harm could be inflicted under Labour home secretary Yvette Cooper’s plan to increase deportations to 2018 levels – with a goal to remove thousands of migrants and refused asylum seekers by the end of the year.

I hate how many people seem to be fighting for this title

Verily

Oh yeah, the one that goes “cut my land into pieces, for oligarchs’ resorts”

Homeless people with French citizenship are being left alone entirely I’m sure /s

One argument I don’t think anyone else has made here - we have fewer restrictions on what can be advertised, where and when ads can be played, and how close to true those advertisements have to be than a lot of other countries do. I think this has the effect of wearing down people’s ability and willingness to engage in logical analysis of the information they receive because we’re constantly bombarded with information and most of it is bullshit to sell us crap we don’t need, so we have to skim through and tune out a lot, and in that process I think a lot of information that’s actually true but that people don’t want to believe gets thrown out too.

I’m pretty sure the WJET/WFXP tag on the front of the article means it’s a reprint of an article originally written by the Fox TV affiliate for Erie, Pennsylvania, so yeah this is like a content mill husk that most for-profit local news in America has turned into being regurgitated by a source somehow even more soulless and predatory

Anyway, mirror link - https://web.archive.org/web/20240705144933/https://www.yourerie.com/technology/japan-sets-world-record-for-the-fastest-internet-speed-ever/

Gerrymandered Congress, no campaign finance laws, bought and paid for judiciary - Allow us to introduce ourselves

And the US government is going to hold a vote on a plan to make it harder for people to migrate today

They’re very good at identifying talented developers /s

Yeah, I’m skeptical of this story to begin with, but even if it is true it doesn’t make any real difference

Nobody places less value on Russian life than Russian leadership, from the Tsars onward