A tuition-free school created by Zuckerberg and Chan will shutter next year

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/tech/chan-zuckerberg-primary-school-closing/index.html

by jszymborski • 1 year ago

58 32 1 year ago

Aeolun2• 1 year ago

What a fantastic argument against this kind of “philantropy”. Relying on rich people to help you is a fundamentally flawed principle.

falcor842• 1 year ago

In case you haven't been following, there have been massive closures of government-funded programs over the last few months too, so I don't think relying on those is any better. At the end of the day, all you can do is make the best choice when opportunities are presented, and roll with the punches when things change.

Edit: grammar fix

UncleMeat4• 1 year ago

At least with the government we have a degree of democratic control over outcomes. "Hope a billionaire doesn't get bored or otherwise change their mind" is considerably less stable, even if government programs are not 100% guarantees.

Aeolun2• 1 year ago

there have been massive closures of government-funded programs over the last few months

Sure, if more than 50% of the country votes for being shafted.

bko4• 1 year ago

I think it argues the opposite.

The school was likely a failure. I couldn't find any stats on success of children but I find that telling as if it was lifting kids out of poverty effectively it would have been advertised. Its probably just not effective and the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Were this a public project it would have persisted indefinitely and have a lobbying constituency to keep setting money on fire.

We want more failed experiments. If committing to a venture where there is no off ramp if it doesn't work, no one will invest

UncleMeat4• 1 year ago

Failing or not, it still has an ongoing obligation to its enrollees. A kid attending the school doesn't really care if the school is meeting its particular metric goals. That kid is still upset that their school is closing and their education and social life is disrupted.

I also don't think that "the school was likely a failure" is a claim we can make in the modern world. Zuck (and other tech CEOs) is/are very clearly fleeing visible commitment to diversity initiatives.

"We will give out a bunch of cash to people who no longer have a school" is better than nothing, but absolutely nothing mandates that this happen the next time.

interactivecode• 1 year ago

Instead of funding a school have they tried money to lift people out of poverty? I wonder what the success rate on that is.

garygatory• 1 year ago

We can optimize chances for successful experiments, and I doubt optimization involves having a lot of hands on by tech CEOs or the wives of tech CEOs (Zuckerberg and Bezos wives’ come to mind, but there are many cases). The Gates foundation and others that have had success in various areas are relatively hands off, or “bottom up” in their approach. One can spend money to feel good, or one can spend money to do good. A lot of tech CEO/tech wife CEO philanthropy is the former.

watwut• 1 year ago

The problem with your second paragraph is that it is made up theory.

Goverment projects do actually frequently end. Sometimes for good reasons, other times for wrong reasons - like conservatives not liking it when they work and are effective.

But it is not true they would all be infinite.

sokoloff• 1 year ago

Were this a public project it would have persisted indefinitely and have a lobbying constituency to keep setting money on fire.

And, more importantly, keep going on with a strategy that isn't actually helping the kids in the program... I can easily look past the government wasting an extra $50M/yr here and there, because that barely matters in the grand scheme of government waste, fraud, and inefficiency. But getting poor educational and life-preparation outcomes for generations of kids because of inertia is an entirely greater concern, at least to me.

chermi2• 1 year ago

Put another way, at least this experiment actually cared about the outcome and did something about it.

Generally, there's far too little feedback and accountability when it comes to public policy intentions vs. outcomes. Our government (US) policies and program are basically running on an open loop, no one is ever comparing outcomes against goals/intentions.

Experimentation requires looking at results of the experiments.

tetris11• 1 year ago

At the mercy of their whims, what truly enlightened era of new-age Victorianism we seem to be entering

satanfirst• 1 year ago

I view these things as a way to make up for not paying adequate tax rates by paying for the things they felt best about in what tax should have paid for.

Flaws with this setup aside, I wouldn't feel good about building a Trump compatible school.. And of course the expectation that they continue is just precedent/norms which means less than nothing in show power by arbitrary disruption land.

southernplaces7• 1 year ago

Regardless of whether one agrees with the school's originally stated aims and social motives, the oddly timed shutting down of this institution, on which who knows how many families probably came to depend, absolutely reeks of chickenshit cowardly kowtowing to a new ideological line. That total lack of spine is contemptible, all ideological questions aside.

They could have easily kept to their original promises and let the school run for decades with the kind of fortune they possess, but they had to overtly shut it down after making some conspicuous other changes that speak volumes about a very specific type of sucking up.

You're a fucking mega multi-billionaire Zuckerberg, what are you so damned afraid of to pander so absurdly?

Even many of the conniving so-called robber barons of the previous century at least stuck to their philanthropic guns in the face of political administrative changes throughout the years they were alive.

justin66• 1 year ago

What they were doing appeared to be well regarded. They could have brought in other funders rather than closing. But yes, it wasn't about the money, I'm sure.

GuestFAUniverse• 1 year ago

So, either they surrender to a despot, or they just were opportunists all the time and the philanthropy really didn't matter to them personally?

Poor people. No matter the money.

dyauspitr• 1 year ago

My gut says it’s the former.

maxglute• 1 year ago

How does contemporary billionaire philanthropy stack up against robber barrons? Any neat musk muesums.

A tuition-free school created by Zuckerberg and Chan will shutter next year

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