Brutkey

Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr
Long thread/38

Teachers aren't to blame. They have to teach to the test, or they will fail their students (literally, because they will have to give them a failing grade, and figuratively, because students who get failing grades will face all kinds of punishments). Teachers' unions - who consistently fight against standardization and in favor of their members discretion to practice their educational skills based on kids' individual needs - are our best hope:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/29/jane-mcalevey/#trump-is-a-scab

38/

Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr
Long thread/39

The right hates teachers and keeps on setting them up to fail. That hatred has no bottom. Take the Republican Texas State Rep Ryan Guillen, whose House Bill 462 will increase the state's school safety budget from $10/student to $100/student, with those additional funds earmarked to buy one armed drone per 200 students (these drones are supplied by a single company that has ties to Guillen):

https://dronelife.com/2024/12/08/texas-lawmaker-proposes-drones-for-school-security-a-less-lethal-solution/

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Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr
Long thread/40

Imagine how much Texas schools could do with an extra $90/student/year - how much more usefully that money could be spent if it were turned over to teachers. But instead, Rep Guillen wants to put "AI in schools" in the form of drones equipped with pepper-spray, flash bangs, and "lances" that can be smashed into people at 100mph.

40/

Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr
Long thread/41

The problem with AI in schools isn't that students are using AI to do their homework. It's that schools have been turned into reward-hacking AIs by a system that hates the idea of an educated populace almost as much as it hates the idea of unionized teachers who are empowered to teach our kids.

41/