I recently shipped a crowdfunding non-profit that pays tuition to low-fee private schools in developing countries. It's been going well for the last two weeks, but I've hit a bit of a snag in our mission.
I was called a neo-liberal and yelled at for "trying to fix the wrong problem" at a recent edtech meetup. This gal believes that for-profit charter schools are horrible for primary education and I should be focused on helping public/government institutions.
My response was that I want to directly effect kids now, not spend years trying to make a change that is unlikely to happen. The schools we work with are held accountable for the quality of education they provide and are teaching students we funded today. A third-world public school system isn't going to change because of a few thousand dollars, but a 100 student charter school with a budget of $80k per year will.
What does HN think about the situation? Do you think educating a smaller amount of people now is better then relying on potentially changing the whole system in future years?
Public education is about a mix of child minding, keeping children out of the labour market - oh and as an afterthought teaching them stuff we taught the previous generations (so they became teachers and can teach the same stuff again).
Private has always been the pathfinder but too often ignored 'cos of political differences.