James P

"So, that would be the more relevant comparison." - James P

"You are right that my reference to a "non-union state" is inaccurate and misleading. However, the closest thing to a non-union state is not right-to-work, it is places like Virginia that are both right-to-work and have outlawed collective bargaining. There, you can be a member of a union, but the union does not operate in the way we recognize unions in a state like New Jersey." - James P

"I can't think about failure in the school lunch program without thinking of Jaime Oliver and his (ultimately abortive) effort to reform school lunches. The seeds of his failure are [here in this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch...), though it is only the seeds. Essentially, the decision to eat school lunch food is partly in the hands of the students, and these kids are not immune to all the same societal forces that we all face. Including advertising junk food. Part of the price of living in a free society is that we expose our kids to marketing that does not have their best interests in mind. And it has its predictable effect. I did catch that article. "Coming Apart" is referenced in it. A rather pessimistic view. While we are faced with some pretty big problems, I think we need more optimism. People seem to forget the kinds of challenges our institutions have survived. We face many social problems, including the widening wage gap and a loss of social mobility. But the..." - James P

"I agree; I did not mean to imply that they didn't have a role. I meant they couldn't do it on their own. On hungry children: that problem, at least, has been somewhat addressed by school lunch programs. They're so prevalent that we use school lunch assistance as a proxy for comparing socioeconomic status between districts. I suspect, however, that while feeding a student helps, they are still burdened by other socioeconomic problems. I spoke to an Apple education division coordinator who was the liaison to a school in Boston that was dealing with a disruptive prostitution problem. It was a middle school. Education researchers see a possibility for some improvement in social problems when we prevent education from perpetuating inequities. However, there is a growing disparity in our society in general. A lot of talk nowadays focuses on the super-rich and their growing income gap from the ever-eroding middle class. However, there really are no voices for the poor, who are no longer even..." - James P

"We have not assumed students were college bound in the US since the the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education were issued around 1907. Ever since then we've had numerous policies either tracking or preparing students for "social life" or "the world of work" or "vocations" etc. We've gone through a lot of pendulum swings since the late 1800's. Greater parental involvement, and, in fact, a lot of the other things you've got in there, were part of Clinton's education initiative in 2000. The one before NCLB. You bring up some important social issues. But I do think a culture of inquiry is rather basic. It is essential for the type of reasoning necessary in many endeavors, and not simply college bound students. I think it can be addressed early on as well. I mention it as only one aspect of education that I value. Bullying is a community issue; the schools cannot solve it. Bullying exists because there is not a community effort to combat it, in that there are people who reinforce the..." - James P

"Comparison is too broad a term, so I agree completely. But I do think that useful research can be done. There is a huge difference between thinking we could transplant some sort of "Finnish method" vs. saying "Making the students wear funny hats in Finland works for them. I wonder if it will work here? Let's study this funny hat thing in Finland." Most importantly, we should study it scientifically. Which means we ought to have some sort of theory that explains the connection between the hats and education. Of course, there is no such theory for hats. But there are other things we might learn. For instance, no matter what school a student is in, I think that if students learn to defend their ideas in discussions, they will have a better comprehension of what they are learning. Perhaps the discussions will look different, but we can look at classrooms that have a culture of inquiry and a responsibility to support one's ideas, and try to think about how a teacher supports the..." - James P

"I think a policy like that is certainly worth looking into." - James P

":)" - James P

"More binary?" - James P

"Fair enough. Then a film about a school in New Jersey probably cannot yield generalizable conclusions about charter schools, school choice, unions, or anything else so long as I argue that there are differences in diversity I can point to." - James P

"Isn't saying they will or will not get results a "binary view of education?"" - James P

"I am glad to see these questions. It is definitely better to have questions than to think charters are the answer in the face of contrary evidence. There is a lot that is different about Finland, and socioeconomic differences are relevant. But I find it interesting that you advocate choice by making an analogy with monopolies in the very different world of the private sector, however when I offer Finland schools as a source of possible solutions (note, I did not say we should simply copy Finland) your reaction is to focus on the socioeconomic differences rather than ask me whether their methods of instruction, teacher preparation, class size, teacher pay, unions, charter schools, school choice, or any other attribute is significantly different. Why is that? Do you think, on the basis of possible SE differences we have nothing to learn from the practices of other schools around the world? How about different parts of the US? If I told you Finland had 100% school choice, would you..." - James P

"What motive drives charter school companies?" - James P

"I do appreciate your earnestness, your honesty, your interest in this subject, and your desire to broaden the discussion. I am not trying to be evasive when I say that I am focused, here, on the idea of whether charter schools are any better. I am trying to be honest; I really do not think more general discussions are grounded in similar assumptions, rendering them rhetorically satisfying but not very useful in finding a solution. But to at least satisfy your question somewhat: I am not going to argue that, in general, I don't respect the availability of choices for the individual. Of course there is choice inherent in our current system. I know plenty of people who researched the school system before buying or renting in a particular place. In an ideal world, all kids would have the perfect school system to go to. What choice proponents do not explain (and have no explanation for) is how choice improves schools. That is the goal: improved schools. We do not have evidence that choice..." - James P

"It is not like buying a service in that it is not driven by a profit motive." - James P

"Home roasting is an option I haven't explored yet. We'll have to see how bad it gets. :( This site has ruined me for cheaper and not freshly roasted beans. Yes, I blame [/r/Coffee](/r/Coffee) ." - James P

"That's how I feel. NEED COFFEE ALL DAY! EMERGENCY! It can also be a mood thing. Like "I am in the mood for an Aeropress shot" vs. a cup of siphon coffee. It is nice to have options." - James P

"Love mine. Are you expecting to see something specific in the way of discussion?" - James P

"Same here; and this is the ratio I use for my siphon pot as well. 22g for 350 ml of water, approx. 7 grams coffee for every 4 oz (or 120 ml) of water. 66 grams coffee per liter, or about 4.5 cups of water." - James P

"I've had the same questions in my quest for coffee experiences. I, too, started with an Aeropress. I still can't say I've necessarily explored all of the possibilities that perfecting Aeropress brewing can bring (mainly because I use the Aero as my at-work setup, so I don't experiment with it as much) but I have expanded into other devices at home. Here are my favorites (and please excuse the lack of detail and/or links, I am pressed for time). Moka pot - Mine is a Bialetti and its purpose is to make an Italian-style coffee on the stove top. (I have an electric model as well). Others here have talked about perfecting Moka brewing, but if you go that route it is a not very expensive way to brew a quite bold cup of coffee. Cheap metal filter - I have experimented with pouring over coffee in a cheap metal filter I got at a discount store. Mainly I was interested to see if I could get a decent cup of coffee by controlling my grind and my water pouring. The answer was: yes. But it took a..." - James P

"I don't see education as necessarily being like buying a product or service, so I don't find that question relevant. If I did, I'd ask McDonalds to educate my children, since they're quite efficient at putting out a product at a low price. But I don't see my kids as a hamburger. In any case, I don't see why we shouldn't just research the charters rater than talking about hypotheticals. That's what the CREDO report aims to do. And that's why I'm interested in this film and the evidence it purports to offer. Even if it is "one sided" (as you said) there is a difference between one sidedness and distortion. I think it is a distortion to imply charters are improving education, considering the independent evidence. The question is not one of whether people should be able to choose to go to a particular store because it is not anyone's responsibility to improve every store. Education is a responsibility to all students, written into the Constitution. That's why I'm interested in improving..." - James P

"Thanks. Interesting, the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...) talks about the three meanings of "express": quickly, to press out, and for one. I hadn't thought of those three meanings, and it's rather interesting." - James P

"I thought it was odd he went from a copper device to PVC. but perhaps it was the solder he was worried about. I don't know." - James P

"Yeah. I know. Although wasnt it originally meant to be an express form of brewing? In any case, I wonder what drives someone to build what they intend to be an espresso machine when they're not even calling it espresso. are tey a fan of espresso, or just get a kick out of building stuff?" - James P

"I'm interested in education, evidence, and research. General discussions on choice and whatnot are not of much use to me when I have to write about this. If there is proof that school choice has served the student population better, I'm open to hear it. The previous criticisms about charters, however, still stands. Clearly, if the alternative is charter schools, they are not serving the student population better. That is the responsibility of our public school system: to educate all students. One of the problems is that, as a nation, we have never had consensus about what an education is. That is, perhaps, another discussion. But it leads me to another distortion in WFSM. Not a big one, but there was a sentiment expressed that schools have, over time, become failing. I have recently been reading about the history of education in America and have noticed that we have been educating more and more of the population as time has gone on, since the late 1800s when we only saw white,..." - James P

"I thought I made it clear that I was referring to the two other movies I saw. And that I intended to watch this one as well. You've seen this film, is it substantially different? Does it mention the fact that so many charters are also underperforming? The problem seems to be that you are assuming that competition and choice is a good thing rather than having evidence for it. It's great to be convinced, but most other people will want evidence. That's what I have tried to provide." - James P

"You talk about educating people about the benefit of charter schools as if that is an uncontested or even supported notion. By what measure are you judging is success? Let's look at what an expert has to say about it. Diane Ravitch was a proponent of charters during the Bush years and was a big part of his education policy leadership. Part of the conservative push to increase school choice. More recently, she has adjusted her opinion based on empirical evidence. http://www.nybooks.com/article... >Some fact-checking is in order, and the place to start is with the film’s quiet acknowledgment that only one in five charter schools is able to get the “amazing results” that it celebrates. Nothing more is said about this astonishing statistic. It is drawn from a national study of charter schools by Stanford economist Margaret Raymond (the wife of Hanushek). Known as the CREDO study, it evaluated student progress on math tests in half..." - James P

"Charter school folks don't drive Mercedes, I take it. Specious arguments like that don't really help solve any educational problems. I think this is the sort of facile treatment of a complex issue that appeals to conservatives while, in actuality, being content free. I plan to watch this documentary when I get a chance. I have seen Waiting for Superman and The Lottery. I can't speak to this particular documentary yet, but I can offer a criticism that consistently applies to attacks on teacher unions in these movies. While unions are a complex issue in themselves, ey are often portrayed by charter advocates as the root of every school problem. Yet you can download standardized test data from the IES website (look for e Nation's Report Card data) and do a means comparison on union vs. nonunion states. You will not find this variable to separate the states. So, there is one criticism. My question is, why portray this as a union problem if it is so easy to do the comparison I did? I have..." - James P