I have a new post over at Policy Shop. It concludes thusly: On average, SAT scores in all subjects track household income very closely: the poorer you are the lower you score, the richer you are the higher you score. Ultimately, it is only by changing that disparity that we can hope to make a… Continue reading Policy Shop: Why Poor Kids Really Don’t Go to College
Author: Matt Bruenig
Teach for America’s poverty safari
I am not a fan of Teach for America, as regular readers probably know by now. I don’t think they have properly diagnosed the cause of the gap between rich and poor students, and I wish they’d rename their organization Give Poor People Money for America, and go from there. For the most part, TFA… Continue reading Teach for America’s poverty safari
Austerity for the gander
JW Mason relays a pathetic argument for austerity out in the Financial Times. The basic thrust of the argument, as Mason’s title mockingly summarizes, is that austerity is good for the soul. Austerity, which here just means having less, will lead to better health by limiting food access. It will promote “common purpose and comradeship.”… Continue reading Austerity for the gander
Cultural hegemony and the naturalness of property
That property institutions are socially constructed is so perfectly obvious that it hardly needs arguing. What else are they if not constructed? Did they exist before human beings existed? No surely not. Did they pop into existence as soon as that first creature with human-like DNA was born? Was it at that instant moment that… Continue reading Cultural hegemony and the naturalness of property
A fascinating argument against primary education vouchers
I was watching a school voucher debate on an old episode of the The Firing Line. One of the opponents of moving to the voucher system made an interesting point. It’s a point I have heard quite often actually, but one I have never put much thought into. It goes like this: switching to a… Continue reading A fascinating argument against primary education vouchers