I agree that focusing on 'equality of outcomes' is not a good fit for our American culture and it should be about 'equality of opportunity'.

From wikipedia (which quoted Harvard): "Affirmative action is intended to alleviate under-representation and to promote the opportunities of defined minority groups within a society to give them equal access to that of the majority population."

If focus is illiberally applied to the outcomes, then those at the edge of the bell curve are denied opportunities that likely work for them, i.e. the slashing of gifted programs as a gifted student.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

What is it's purpose? What problem does it solve?

I get that eBooks may need to expired access after a given amount of time, but I'm not sure why.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34164200

Points: 5

# Comments: 12

It takes a lot of energy to raise children and be a good partner. The anxiety introduced by constantly getting notified of what is being taught, what the grades are, what is missing EVERYDAY is not only overkill, but I think harmful.

My philosophy is that school (elementary, middle, high school) is a time to explore, be a kid, make mistakes, and do your best to navigate puberty.

The constant reminder of grades, grades, grades puts too much emphasis on my more school-inclined child to be obsessed with their identity as an "A" student, and my art-inclined child to rebel at every turn with us constantly stressing if she's "missed" anything.

"Pro-black" is not equivalent to "Pro-white" mainly because of the context within the US. "Pro-black" however is equivalent to "Pro-Italian" or "Pro-Irish" because of the historical context of how those phrases relate to generalized heuristic (cultural celebration usually involving commerce).

> If I (white) saw 'black friendly cafe' or something, I don't have a problem with that to be clear, but I would absolutely assume that I'm not exactly welcome, that it's intended to serve that community

If your lived experience is that you haven't been welcome to a 'black friendly cafe', then that is unfortunate. That is not my experience and I can't find any data or historical context that reinforces that narrative. I'm not saying it doesn't happen or that if it did, it would not be wrong, but that statement reinforces my point.

You are using the context of how you would feel as an equivalency to the intent of the person who puts out the message. If you don't allow for nuance, then you will have missed the point.

"Pro-white" or "White friendly" messaging historically has been extremely overt as being anti-Black, so much so that we have entire amendments in our US Constitution that exist in an attempt to combat them.

It clearly states it is targeting people who want to live or post a LGTBQ+ friendly place.

Buster Neece: https://github.com/SlvrEagle23

Azuracast: https://github.com/azuracast/azuracast

Personal website: https://www.dashdev.net/

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/30-days-to-find-a-new-life-help-n...

Programming is a way to learn a new language that allows you to build something...ANYTHING...that you can easily tear down, upgrade, keep, or share.

There is nothing like the feeling of trying to build something, getting stuck, having the AHA moment, then seeing it work!

I don't focus on a particular language, stack, or goal. I push them to think about what they want to build, break, and poke around with, find an example online, then open it up and try to modify it.

I've found that most teens want the ability the explore, on their own terms. Programming is too often told from the perspective of working adults who focus on productivity, profit, or protection against obsolescence (you better learn it b/c it will be needed in your future). At that age, most kids aren't motivated by that because it's not their context.

I completely disagree with the notion that one has to "just like it" or "find your own motivation or its not for you". This is not a pipeline problem. This is an incentive problem and the industry is mostly incentivized by efficiency, speed, and profit. I try to focus on the value.

I understand that the phrase "white supremacy" is equated with the idea that "people who identify as white are superior" (bad). I also understand the immediate reaction is to possibly think "I am not a bad person and I identify as white, so there must be something wrong here". When you then tie it to a concept like math, the next thought then tends to go to "how can a concept, not a person, like math, inherit a bad human trait like superiority"? It can't, so therefore there must be something wrong with these ideas.

If you look at the curriculum text from equitablemath.org and peek at page 9: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11..., there is a nuance here that I'm hoping to clarify to those who may feel the above.

First, the argument is not referring to a person, but a culture. Another way to think about it is a system. In this context, the system simply refers to the current methods of teaching.

If we all agree that the goal is to encourage as many people as possible to participate in STEM, enjoy it, thrive in it, and feel supported in it and we all agree that the data and studies show that our current system could be improved to accomplish this goal, the next conclusion is to criticize the system of which we teach fundamental concepts, like math.

Within our current system (or culture), we teach math a certain way. Some of those ways emphasize independent practice, mistakes are failure, teaching concepts linearly, and/or grading students based on what they don't know.

Because a lot of us learned this way and we are in the STEM field, we may ask ourselves "what is wrong with that?"

The argument is not that you don't have a legitimate question. The argument is that stopping at the question does not achieve the goal. After years and years of social science study of what prevents people of color from getting into STEM fields (if you don't believe these studies exist, that is ok, but only encourage your own investigation), the argument of "white supremacy culture in math" is providing points of how to center the experiences of people in color within the curriculum of teaching math to increase the thing we all seem to claim we want: the pipeline.

As a Black man, its really hard to be a part of this community and see people argue that is a pipeline problem, see scholars provide solutions to address the pipeline, then see those same people say "but why do we have to change anything, why is this relevant?"

At this point, it just feels like some people actually don't want a solution. Even if this doesn't work, why are we afraid to try? Isn't that the point of being part of the scientific community?

Instead, we're stuck demonizing the motives of people we don't know who are trying to help others who may be outside of our own bubble.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucial_Conversations%3A_Tools...

1. (for now) Ignore all the "read this, study that". If your goal is to be "independent", then I take that to mean you want to make money. "Reading this, study that" does not immediately make you money. It's important, but not THE most important thing right now.

2. Network with other independents and get on jobs they are on. Focus on getting paid and making money as quickly as possible so you can start to get a feel for how much you can charge and how steady an income you get.

3. Let go of your fear of putting yourself out there or getting a "no". Don't worry about telling "everyone" you are independent. Focus on telling people / circles / influencers who are most related to your client base.

Again, I'm not saying the "read this, study that" advice is not important. My advice is that there is a lot out there and your single most important focus should be on your goal: getting paid for your work.

Keep running experiments, different rates, different jobs, different emails, different job boards and get hired. See what works, get paid, rinse and repeat.

If you're just looking for a quick and dirty solution, find the full-time posting of the job you want to do, and apply to the job with your cover letter being honest about how you want to help and work with them, but ask if they are open to a freelancer. You'd be surprised how many people will kick those tires and get you off and running.

My reasons for going for it are 1) parents are aging and I want to help them with retirement 2) ride the wave b/c you never know when it will stop and 3) yolo.

My reasons for not doing it are 1) it's a bunch of extra stress and work I don't want to do. Lol.

Find a small business or smaller shop to work for (even accept less pay and use a little savings so you know how that feels), raise your hand to do stuff you normally wouldn't do (if you're an engineer, volunteer to help with sales, marketing, customer service, etc.), make nice with the owners, and constantly learn what they do.

Once you get their playbook, jump out on your own or side hustle practicing it until you're ready.

That is what I did. It took a few years, but I'm happy I did.

It sounds like your job is tightly-coupled with how you see yourself, so perhaps consider things outside of your job (volunteering, extra-curriculars, investing, etc.) that are closer to what you value.

One way to handle getting through these low periods is to shift your mindset of your job being a reflection of what you like and more your job enabling you do, participate what you like.

Personally, being of service of others, using my vacation days to help others, and investing in projects and people I believe in has helped offset some of the feelings you may be feeling.

It inevitably walks me through the critical thinking process of what defines success, what questions should I be asking, and am I standing in the way of that.