[quanticle]

I don't think that there will be a collapse. The linked post [1] has this telling line:

    Because I’m in a very very blue state and city

Emphasis on city. Every time I've read something about how the education system in the United States is on the verge of collapse or is collapsing, it's been from a teacher (or has quoted teachers) in a city school district. City school districts are in dire shape. But that's because many city school districts are massively overbuilt for the amount of children they need to serve, and politicians are loath to shutter schools. So these school districts chug along, spending more and more money on buildings and facilities that are hardly used, while, at the same time shortchanging teachers and the education of children.

Suburban school districts are smaller, have more children (which equates to more funding) and generally have newer buildings and facilities, so they're not in the same dire shape as city school districts. For that reason, you hear much less about them. After all, who wants to write a news story that reads, "Okay, everything is actually functioning as it more or less should?" This leads to a mistaken impression that all school districts everywhere are on the verge of breakdown when in reality the failures are localized to city districts like San Francisco or Chicago.

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/11620il/the_us_is...

[alephnerd]

The orignal poster on Reddit isn't even in the US based on their post history. I've seen this happen a bunch on Reddit where non-Americans astroturf as Americans (and Americans astroturf as Europeans) on Reddit either as lulz or sockpuppet accounts.

But I can attest your statement. My mom works in education and it's open knowledge among teachers and certified staff that you start off in a city district for 1-2 years to get the no experience stink off you and then you go to a better suburban school district. PDs do the same as well.

[base698]

I live in a smaller red city and it's as bad at select schools as it is in SF. Generally public education is horrendous here and everyone with an above median income sends their kids to private school.

[alephnerd]

Is the smaller red city demographically wealthy/upper middle class like Ft Worth, or a demographically working class/poorer city like Dayton? Class/family wealth plays a MASSIVE impact on school district performance, because richer parents have more time and ability to intercede in their kids education.

When people mention San Francisco, it's better to compare the families sending kids to public schools with those in Dayton tbh. Parents who can afford to usually leave San Francisco when they start a family so they can send their kids to better public school districts.

Also, like I've said a thousand times on HN - the primary city by population and economy in the Bay Area is SAN JOSE, not San Francisco. San Francisco barely had any tech employment until the 2010s, lost most of it's banking+law employment in 2008, and the union port jobs in the 90s. The biggest employer in SF is the city.

[adgjlsfhk1]

I think a lot of it is just that cities still have functional newspapers to report when schools are failing and the suburbs don't.

[bart_spoon]

Most suburbs are reported on by the newspapers of the neighboring city when something newsworthy occurs, educational or otherwise.

[gbasin]

Does funding matter? <insert one of a dozen studies here showing little relationship between student funding and outcomes, across and within countries>

[quanticle]

One of the issues with many of those studies is that they track per-pupil spending and track educational outcomes without actually verifying that the per-pupil spending is actually being spent on pupils. If a significant fraction of the per pupil spending is being spent on facilities maintenance, then the water, so to speak, is evaporating before it reaches the mouths of the thirsty.