Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[Admiral Yi]

Airlines, schools, universities are areas where competition can be beneficial.

[Norgy]

Could I interest either of you in an Automatic Train Control System?   

 

This is a true story:
The automated signal systems that were supposed to be integrated here were delayed. Due to "technical issues", which meant the systems did not work. At all. I picked up the report, because of Norwegian transparency laws. It was full of technical stuff that made me lose a bit of hair, but apparently the system simply won't be possible to implement ever. So, back to the drawing board for a new one. And before you ask, the system was developed by a private company promising well more than they could deliver.

Which surprised I think absolutely not a single person. But it kept people in jobs, at least.

I am leaning towards the Springfield "MONORAIL" chant from The Simpsons by now.

[Savonarola]

This is a true story:
The automated signal systems that were supposed to be integrated here were delayed. Due to "technical issues", which meant the systems did not work. At all. I picked up the report, because of Norwegian transparency laws. It was full of technical stuff that made me lose a bit of hair, but apparently the system simply won't be possible to implement ever. So, back to the drawing board for a new one. And before you ask, the system was developed by a private company promising well more than they could deliver.

Which surprised I think absolutely not a single person. But it kept people in jobs, at least.

I am leaning towards the Springfield "MONORAIL" chant from The Simpsons by now.

Was that the Alstom project?  If so I think I know the project manager...

(Although if it was Alstom, it wasn't truly a private company, since 25% of Alstom is owned by the French government.)

[Josquius]

our trains don't run on time either. Instead they decided that the trains would run slower so that the delay wasn't a delay anymore.
our trains still don't run on time.
state-run company.

SBB is probably second only to JR for its punctuality.
SBB is firmly state run.
JR...officially a bunch of private companies but in reality it has a very incestuous corporatist relationship with the state.

A nationalised railway isn't an automatic magic wand solution to problems. But it does make it a hell of a lot easier to tackle problems if your politicians are so inclined.

Airlines, schools, universities are areas where competition can be beneficial.

Airlines -ish. If you don't care about emissions.  Regulated competition is probably best.

Schools- absolutely not. This leads to problem kids really being screwed over (a person I know recently had this with her kids being denied a space in any school after she moved to a new city since one of them was marked as special needs), over the top focus on exam results rather than education, way too much emphasis being put on inspections (which has led to suicides when they go poorly), drastically worse working conditions, and so on.
Schools shouldn't be isolated organisations in competition with others. They should be collaborative parts of the same overall education system.
And this isn't just me, its a long understood issue of the wrong turn the country has taken
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/oct/31/is-competition-between-schools-restricting-collaboration

Universities- similar reasoning to schools applies though maybe not quite as strongly. There's also the issue of academia and its publication obsession rather than educating or doing useful work.

[crazy canuck]

There is no a growing problem, particularly in North America, if academic paper mills and junk journals. All thanks to the introduction of competition in Academia.

[Norgy]

Was that the Alstom project?  If so I think I know the project manager...

(Although if it was Alstom, it wasn't truly a private company, since 25% of Alstom is owned by the French government.)

No, I do believe this was a multi-European company just selling pie in the sky.

It wasn't such a huge surprise that it could not be implemented on single rail Norwegian railroads, really.
For decades, investment and maintenance have been lacking, because the government has put "new roadbuilding" on top. And bridges, so that the last remaining people living there could move away from isolated islands.

But since we are a moral nation of hypocrites when it comes to being climate neutral and living up to EU norms, railroads seemed like a great idea just like letting Tesla build superchargers with Norwegian tax payer money and basically sponsoring people to buy electric cars. While we still supply gas and oil.

The fact that we even have railroads here, in a country that is so full of natural barriers to building them could be counted as, well, maybe the 201st wonder of the world? 

The signal system failing is just one part of this farce. There was a huge investment in a tunnel project south of Oslo to cut down commuting time. It went... not well. And when we speak of "huge investments" in Norway, it is like the GNP of Greece or something. I turn on the radio most mornings. "The Follo tunnel is closed, the minister of transport is our next guest".

In recent years, Spanish companies have won bids for building roads here. That went really well. Cutting costs at every corner, we basically have main roads between east and west mostly closed for maintenance.

And you may ask, did not Norway excel at shipping before, so that uou don't need all that infrastructure inland?
We still do shipping. But mostly to send cargo to the PRC and the shipping the final product back. It is a strange world, this. One this Norwegian idealist does not recognise much of.

[Admiral Yi]

Schools- absolutely not. This leads to problem kids really being screwed over (a person I know recently had this with her kids being denied a space in any school after she moved to a new city since one of them was marked as special needs), over the top focus on exam results rather than education, way too much emphasis being put on inspections (which has led to suicides when they go poorly), drastically worse working conditions, and so on.

Parents and teachers can assess these factors for themselves.

[Josquius]

Schools- absolutely not. This leads to problem kids really being screwed over (a person I know recently had this with her kids being denied a space in any school after she moved to a new city since one of them was marked as special needs), over the top focus on exam results rather than education, way too much emphasis being put on inspections (which has led to suicides when they go poorly), drastically worse working conditions, and so on.

Parents and teachers can assess these factors for themselves.

Yes?
And what good does that do?
"my kid is autistic so no schools within at least 30 minutes will take him. Home schooling is the only choice. "
"since the trust took over this job has just got worse and worse. All my friends at other schools say it's the same... Better... Quit teaching?"

[Oexmelin]

There is already competition in Universities and schools in the USA. It's called the Ivy League, and the zip code, respectively. Whether or not this is a good thing, I am sure we will disagree.

[crazy canuck]

Schools- absolutely not. This leads to problem kids really being screwed over (a person I know recently had this with her kids being denied a space in any school after she moved to a new city since one of them was marked as special needs), over the top focus on exam results rather than education, way too much emphasis being put on inspections (which has led to suicides when they go poorly), drastically worse working conditions, and so on.

Parents and teachers can assess these factors for themselves.

Actually, teachers can't.  They must teach to prescribed exams, and they are highly incentivized to even allow their students to cheat on those exams in order to meet the competitive measure of other school's, accomplishments.

And if parents want their children to go to universities, they also have to play this game. It's all a bunch of nonsense and the fact that people like you turn a blind eye to the destructive effects is a big part of the problem.

The paradigm of introducing private sector competition into public sector services is one of the many problems with your ideology.

[Admiral Yi]

Yes?
And what good does that do?
"my kid is autistic so no schools within at least 30 minutes will take him. Home schooling is the only choice. "
"since the trust took over this job has just got worse and worse. All my friends at other schools say it's the same... Better... Quit teaching?"

Parents can decide whether a given school is suited for their children's needs.  Teachers can decide if a given school has the proper work environment.

If *no* school will accept the autistic kid that is not a problem caused by competition.

[Josquius]

Yes?
And what good does that do?
"my kid is autistic so no schools within at least 30 minutes will take him. Home schooling is the only choice. "
"since the trust took over this job has just got worse and worse. All my friends at other schools say it's the same... Better... Quit teaching?"

Parents can decide whether a given school is suited for their children's needs.  Teachers can decide if a given school has the proper work environment.

If *no* school will accept the autistic kid that is not a problem caused by competition.

Except it is.
If they're all forced to compete nobody wants the kids that cost them a tonne for no exam results benefit

[Admiral Yi]

Except it is.
If they're all forced to compete nobody wants the kids that cost them a tonne for no exam results benefit

You're telling me in the UK state run schools have the ability to deny admission to autistic kids?

[Josquius]

Except it is.
If they're all forced to compete nobody wants the kids that cost them a tonne for no exam results benefit

You're telling me in the UK state run schools have the ability to deny admission to autistic kids?

Just Google it, it happens. Random first result :
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs/4658445-special-needs-schools-rejecting-my-severe-asd-son

Running state schools as businesses and the whole academy thing is an absolute shambles.


The example I mentioned the kid didn't even have anything serious. She was just marked as special needs due to anxiety issues - and her sibling was excluded as they were a group package.
It Took the woman  I know  appealing to the local MP to get the kids into school, after half a year missing out.

[Admiral Yi]

I can't tell from that tweet whether the six schools are state run or not.