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The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes

108 points by 1vuio0pswjnm7

by ggm

9 subcomments

The right way to fund national needs is taxation. If the process is depending on charitable funding, the funds should be put into a safe harbour so this kind of "yea... nah" outcome can't happen.

by maxglute

2 subcomments

TIL Pricilla's was a pediatrician.
At least have the gilded age decadency deceny to build some muesums.

by ggm

1 subcomments

https://archive.md/ktKEs

by duxup

1 subcomments

>It didn’t have the special education system or disciplinary rules that are required of charter schools, the former administrator said. But students wore recording devices dubbed “speech pedometers” so that software could analyze the speech patterns of children and the adults around them. The technology was designed by a nonprofit to encourage staffers to talk more with students in ways that studies suggest encourage brain and language development.
>“It was beyond naivete,” the former administrator said. “It was hubris.”
What the heck?
Education is hard, and it's surprising how much "gee whizz" type tech / ideas are out there that supposedly fix things like a magic wand. And in the meantime, no disciplinary rules?

by asveikau

2 subcomments

As a parent, I can't imagine the chaos that ensues when your kid's school ceases to exist overnight. Keeping that school running is less than pocket change to them. I feel like their action is morally quite shameful.

by ars

0 subcomment

"said Chan had grown distant in recent years as the school’s academic performance faltered"
If Chan's experiment isn't working, why would we expect her to keep funding it?
The part at the end about it taking 20 years or whatever makes no sense, a child is not in school for 20 years.

by Jedd

0 subcomment

A reminder that "No Such Thing As a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy" by Linsey McGoey (2015), is an excellent analysis of philanthrocapitalism.
(Spoiler - this book does not provide a ringing endorsement of dubiously acquired wealth being dubiously applied through a commercial / for-profit prism.)

by southernplaces7

2 subcomments

Way I see it based on admittedly limited information, these two are either kowtowing cynical liars who financed this entire chain of social causes for the sake of scoring a certain type of PR value with a certain kind of social demographic and now no longer give a shit because another kind of social posturing is de jure.
Or, they're cowards who can't in the least minimum stand up for the causes they claim to strongly, morally support and are willing to discard them at a moment's hint of sacrifice or trouble.
If the latter, then how cowardly indeed. If you're already a fucking centibillionaire, then what a truly absurd, spineless shit of a human being with zero internal firmness you'd have to be to screw over thousands of people who had really come depend on these programs...
All because you might, possibly, have to stand up to one screaming orangutan and maybe lose a few billion out of a wholly gargantuan fortune that you will never ever be able to spend in a lifetime.
Either way, the saddest part is the people who'd come to depend on these things, now affected by their loss.

by itsthecourier

0 subcomment

when I was making some money finally I could afford to pay for my siblings college.
I told them since the beginning: I'm doing my best, I cannot be sure to be able to pay it until the end. do your best and figure out how to help of I need you.
fortunately I was able to pay all of them until the end. but the lesson is: thank the supporters, hope for the best but understand the uncertainty

by ChrisArchitect

0 subcomment

Previously related:
A tuition-free school created by Zuckerberg and Chan will shutter next year
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43801082

by max_

0 subcomment

"The East Palo Alto project was the billionaire couple’s second major intervention in a city’s education system, after a controversial 2011 gift of $100 million to the Newark public schools. Some experts and community members claimed that the money was largely squandered"

by apical_dendrite

0 subcomment

Chan & Zuckerberg acted much more responsibly here than Elon and Trump:
> CZI has promised a parting gift totaling $50 million to the community. Parents were told students will receive $1,000 to $10,000 for their future education based on age, and the school district received $26.5 million in grant funds last month. The district declined to comment for this article.
They understood that they were breaking commitments that they had made to parents, and that they were putting an unexpected burden on a local school district, and they tried to address that.
By contrast, Elon and Trump abruptly broke commitments that the US made all over the world. Stopping clinical trials midway, leaving food and medicine sitting to rot in warehouses, etc.

by MilnerRoute

0 subcomment

I was just reading the Washington Post, and I saw the full-length headline.
"The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes. 400 kids lost their school."
"Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s retreat from funding social issues forced the closure of a school Chan opened for disadvantaged families in Silicon Valley."

by jongjong

1 subcomments

I prefer it when billionaires stay out of social causes and buy more yachts and mansions instead.
At least then, everyone can be sure that they're not funding harmful programs. Also, billionaires would be more satisfied and less inclined to engage is harmful politics if they're too busy cruising the world on their yachts.
Keeping billionaires on the hamster wheel is dumb and harmful. They won capitalism. They won at life. That's it, there's no higher goal, that's the game. Give them a medal and let them enjoy their mansions.
Right now, it seems like Billionaires don't realize that they won the game because the people around them keep trying to make them feel like it's not enough.

by wetpaws

0 subcomment

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