if there's one thing that I've learned about being subjected to private education is that the incentive landscape between institution and student.

you're a source of revenue when you send your kids to private schools. remember that.

@tariqk eh, being in the Government school system I found that they only cared about you as a source of As. Nothing more.

@creatrixtiara EYYYY, HI TIARA

yes! and you think that changes when you go private?

@tariqk well, not necessarily, I'm mostly saying that public schools aren't some sort of bastion of equality either just because money isn't the deciding factor

(eyyyyyy)

@creatrixtiara oh, they're not right *now*. but it's on the realm of possibility there, because, *in theory*, it ought to serve democratic goals.

the market doesn't. that's why it's regulated.

@tariqk "realm of possibility" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AS FUCKING IF

pleaselah. my school was happy that one of my classmates left due to mental health issues because "oh she wouldn't bring our SPM statistics down". When I ran EducateDeviate I heard from so many Gov school kids who heard very similar messaging from their schools.

"in theory" is meaningless. The reality is public schools are not and never will be any better at this.

@creatrixtiara then don't expect private education to do the same.

I'm saying that. what's in the realm of possibility in public education is NOT in private education.

@tariqk eh, I've had better experiences with private ed because at least they weren't trying to kick me out over visas

i'm not "expecting" anything from anyone, I'm saying that you have a very VERY blinkered view of public ed that might as well come from Narnia because it's in the realm of mythological.

@creatrixtiara you're making assumptions about what i believe about public schools

please note that child numero uno is coming to the age of primary schooling. I'm already at the stage where I'm having to deal with the ministry of education, because of reasons.

I'm comparing and contrasting how it's happening with parents of my peer group, who have gone through some other things as well.

the options are actually bad all around.

@tariqk I don't see why me pointing out the flaws in your thinking about public schools means I'm necessarily saying private schools are any better?

@creatrixtiara this thread literally began with me complaining about what a public school is doing. like, it's not great now. quite the opposite.

I'm not saying it's better. I'm saying it could be better. It HAS to be better.

@tariqk "has" to be better, but it's not, and frankly never will be unless there is a significant, drastic, history-altering change.

@creatrixtiara yes. and?

@tariqk and that's that. i'm not the one making any commentary about private schools, you're the one that keeps insisting i have opinions about it because that's the main thing you respond with whenever i say public schools aren't and never will be any better.

@creatrixtiara and that's the problem with what i have on your argument.

it's this:

“public schools aren't better, they're never going to get better.”

then die lor. why talk? habis cerita.

what to do, then? what options are available? nothing.

it sounds like a counsel for nihilism. which... you might be right, but there's the end of the argument. and?

@tariqk I attended both private and public schools. The only reason why parents send kids to private schools is because they want their child to receive something different than what they could get from a public school. So, believe me that parents of private schools are constantly watching to make sure they are getting that when they write the check each month. Public schools, on the other hand, have zero incentive to offer quality education, due to districts and collective bargaining.

@SteveJohnson i did both, as well. and for stuff you can throw money at? that's great. that's why people throw money at private schools, because they think they can see the benefits immediately.

but it comes at a cost, and it's a collective cost that isn't easy to see, especially if you only think at the level of the individual.

@tariqk So my solution is this: Allow parents to send their children to any public school, not just the school in their neighborhood. This way, parents will send their kids to the schools that have the best teachers and the best test scores. Meanwhile, the schools with the worst teachers and worst test scores will lose students, and eventually have to restructure. This way, public schools are governed solely by parent-choice, instead of labor unions and political parties.

@SteveJohnson That's what we did here.

what happens is that the best-performing public schools end up having entrance exams. and people too poor to afford to send their kids to these schools suffer. and people say, aaa, who asked you to be complicit to your children's suffering? you should cut off your limbs to send your kids to these schools when other parents can get Daddy's driver to send to school.

which was why this toot-storm started, if you look it up.

@tariqk Hmm, no I'm talking about public schools here. Public schools (I live in the USA) suffer from the problem of bad teachers because parents cannot choose which public schools to send their children to. The only other option parents have is to send their children to private schools, which is very expensive. So, if parents were allowed to choose any public school, then schools are forced to compete for students.

@SteveJohnson and I'm saying: be very careful with the ramifications of your proposed change in policy.

@SteveJohnson actually, they did that last generation. the rich parents decided they wanted more control, so now we have them lobbying for the government for more school choice, spearheaded by, among other people, the scion of one of the Malay royal families here.

@SteveJohnson now the children of ministers and tycoons go to school in elite private schools and International schools, if not outright to foreign schools.

one of the early pioneers of this method of schooling is now party youth secretary for the ruling party.

he is not a nice man.

also, the more exclusive the educational environment, the more homogenous the end result tends to be.

a friend of mine constantly rolls their eyes at the students my secondary alma mater brings out.

oh, they're accomplished, all right. they fit all the criteria for good critical thinkers, have the right contacts, and the right surface attitude.

“But, Tariq,” they say, “They're so... so... so *you*.”

they're not wrong 😂😂😂

i remember one time the owner of our school said that the one reason why our school was so special was that this was golden opportunity for all of us to “network” with one another to help each other to achieve in future.

i was 15 and i didn't know what that meant.

now I'm in my mid-thirties and i shudder.

I've had one senior and the head of my year go into politics for the opposition, and... for all their talk about being for the people, they're all pair of upper-middle class boys who worked in service of politicians who were kids of politicians, or who belonged to the same political class that listens to each other and treats everyone outside of that class as things to rescue or as impediments.

one time one of them said that “this educational policy is no big deal, because *I* had no problems.”

more alumni ☕:

they're​ definitely high-flyers — they went off early to school abroad, spent their career in a Fortune 500 company, then senior management in their early 30s. definitely early C-level candidate for sure.

i discovered that another friend was also their ex — amicable etc., still friends.

but then said alumni starts saying classist / xenophobic stuff? so I'll catch up with the ex and go, really?

and they go, ya, typical $alumni la. it was so annoying when they got bougie liddat.

this fler isn't like conservative or anything — i recall their spirited defense of Salman Rushdie in school, they're get civic-minded, progressive, went for that huge BERSIH rally for electoral transparency, lots of hip and happening friends.

but, like many of their contemporaries, massive lacuna on class issues and migrant issues. want to say that this is minority issue also cannot. it permeates the entire “progressive” sphere in 🇲🇾

ughhhhhh am suddenly reminded of progressives in 🇲🇾

god save us from woke progressive English-speaking 🇲🇾 men

we're a fucking bane