"inequality" in the homepage

[Eriny]

Yeah, I thought the point was to help people who don't get the resources that other people do, thereby increasing the overall standard of VCE students and ensuring that socio-economic status doesn't give some kids an artificial advantage over others. It's ambitious, but I very much like the idea.

Oh also, I'm always saying this, but public schools aren't all bad. Only some are. It's just that they don't have nearly the same budget as private school do to access these kinds of resources. They aren't necessarily required for a good score, but they do make the pursuit of getting a good score easier.

[Collin Li]

But the goal is not to reduce inequality per se. It is to help people who can benefit from us. Reducing inequality can also be achieved by fucking up the ones at the upper tier. We should lose our obsession with closing the inequality gap. It's not the primary goal - it is a consequence of what we can achieve.

[bucket]

LOL.
So much for letting the argument die, why does it bother everyone so much?
Everyone makes mistakes.

[brendan]

Tyler Cowen,a professor of economics at George Mason University said it best in an op-ed in the NYT:

"The broader philosophical question is why we should worry about inequality — of any kind — much at all. Life is not a race against fellow human beings, and we should discourage people from treating it as such. Many of the rich have made the mistake of viewing their lives as a game of relative status. So why should economists promote this same zero-sum worldview? Yes, there are corporate scandals, but it remains the case that most American wealth today is produced rather than taken from other people.

What matters most is how well people are doing in absolute terms. We should continue to improve opportunities for lower-income people, but inequality as a major and chronic American problem has been overstated."

[bubble sunglasses]

  Yeah, ok Brendan this isn't the politics forum. I think we could all interpret eniwabe's words; he meant pushing the bottom bar up rather than lowering the top one.

Actually the primary goal *is* to reduce inequality. The inequality is between resources and opportunities. This site gives EVERYBODY A+ resources as opposed to just private schools in the past. That, sir, is bridging the inequality gap. This site would not help very many private schoolers, I've gotta say. I hardly needed any help on BoS or any extra notes outside of school simply because my own school provided them bountifully. Unfortunately, Joe Bloggs from Wangaratta didn't get what I had, and this site rectifies that.

    Really? I was just about to recommend saying something to the effect that "private schoolers can also benefit greatly from vcenotes." Many are sub-standard in some areas [and even if they aren't they might learn something new here and get extra help if their teachers can't always provide it] They could also benefit from the forum -how many times have we talked about this site having a popluation "skewed upwards" in terms of ability. Not contradicting you, but did you not meet Ahmad here and did his posts not enhance your marks, or appreciation of some subjects?
 
 Also I agree with Eriny that you over-generalise about public schools being under-equipped to help their students. My old [state, rural] school, BSSC, was brilliant for students doing the Asian 5, although it lacked in other areas.

[tia]

 Interesting discussion point guys 

I agree with brendan and coblin's points.

[brendan]

Interesting discussion point guys 

I agree with brendan and coblin's points.

yay booo to enwiabe =p

[neophyte]

Actually the primary goal *is* to reduce inequality. The inequality is between resources and opportunities. This site gives EVERYBODY A+ resources as opposed to just private schools in the past. That, sir, is bridging the inequality gap. This site would not help very many private schoolers, I've gotta say. I hardly needed any help on BoS or any extra notes outside of school simply because my own school provided them bountifully.

I agree. Those who attend private schools usually have access to study notes such as those offered on this site. I was under the impression that the aim was to give access to these kind of educational resources to all VCE students, thereby serving to bridge this inequality gap, at least to some extent. Students should not be disadvantaged by differences in their socio-economic backgrounds. Thus, this form of multifarious inequality is a problem.

By the way, surely the creator of the site knows what the primary goal of the site was and is.

[Collin Li]

The point is that inequality is not the fundamental issue. We simply want to raise the lower bar (consequentially reducing inequality), but of course we should be no less motivated if our service rose the upper bar substantially moreso than the lower bar. As long as we provide a service that mutually benefits the consumers and providers, there is no reason why we shouldn't be proud of it.

[enwiabe]

That's a favourable outcome of the site, coblin. But that's not the one I'd be most proud of. The one I'd be most proud of is the one that says, "Public non-selective school enters the top 3!" or something to that effect.

[brendan]

That's a favourable outcome of the site, coblin. But that's not the one I'd be most proud of. The one I'd be most proud of is the one that says, "Public non-selective school enters the top 3!" or something to that effect.

it might happen but i wouldn't hold my breath

[neophyte]

The problem of inequality should be the fundamental issue. Of course, universally raising the standard of education is desirable; however, individuals should have equal access to educational resources, as much as is possible. This, specifically, is the problem of inequality being referred to, as enwiabe repeatedly mentions, not the inequality in educational standards.

[enwiabe]

Mmhmm. :-/ Arguments are often created out of nothing on these forums.

[brendan]

individuals should have equal access to educational resources, as much as is possible.

If there were some government policy that would reduce the resources of those at the top without affecting the resources of anyone else, would you want the government to flip this switch? If you were aiming at reducing inequality in resources you would, yet who would say that is desirable?

[enwiabe]

Brendan, you're being a nonce. It's providing the right means to the end. You're putting words in both neophyte's mouth and my own. Of course we wouldn't want that. Instead, we'd want to aim to make those A+ resources free so everyone could access them, not JUST students of elite private schools.