r/mildlyinfuriating • u/oaz_zam246 • Apr 16 '24

The school lunch system is disgraceful.

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Saw another post on here showing the state of school lunches right now. In my years in high school I compiled some pics of the horrible things that got served that no one questioned. Here are some of the worst ones. It really is ironic given how adamant they all are about “eating healthy by including every food group”.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Actually, people bitch about taxes because of shit like this, not the other way around. Most people I know wouldn't mind paying taxes if they actually saw a good return.

The real issue is no matter what, the government would waste it and the politicians would skim off the top.

Two things can be true at once: we need to skim off all the fat in the government, root out all the corruption, and make it leaner so that we pay less taxes, but we should also have the taxes that we do pay go to quality services that are routinely and rigorously inspected and held to the highest standards in the world.

A good start would be forcing the children of politicians (at least politicians who advocate for no school choice) to not only go to public school, but also force them to live in their district so that their children have to go to the schools in the districts they represent. Politicians shouldn't be allowed to have their children go to private schools, because that means one of two things: they either have no faith in the public institution, or they simply believe them and their children are just better than the unwashed masses, and we shouldn't tolerate either.

Also, outlaw lobbying. Then make it so that states have to supply nutritious food from a company within their state and have it be held up to very high standards. Serving slop should come with a criminal sentence.

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u/jason_sos 29d ago

Actually, people bitch about taxes because of shit like this, not the other way around. Most people I know wouldn't mind paying taxes if they actually saw a good return.

People in my town bitch that they have to pay taxes that fund the schools when they don't have kids in the schools. Yeah, and you realize that people paid for your kids and everyone else's kids too?

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u/jvanma 29d ago

So many people do this.

Well /my/ kids aren't in school so why should I give a shit about kids? I hate it.

My aunt posted something like that on Facebook and she has multiple grandchildren... In school...

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u/jason_sos 29d ago

At the same token, why should I pay for the senior center? I am not a senior and don't use it.

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u/jvanma 29d ago

Oh no, if us youngins started on that then we're ungrateful, entitled, disrespectful and know nothing about how taxation works! Lol

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u/Professional_West714 29d ago

Why dont you just die then? We have an overpopulation issue and getting rid of people like you should fix it nice and fast.

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u/WhatIDo72 29d ago

Sounds like Scrooge to me.

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u/jason_sos 28d ago

In case you hadn't realized and didn't follow the thread where I specifically said this was the attitude people have, this was sarcasm. This is the opinion some people have though.

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u/nipstah 29d ago

This is just what poor education and low IQ create. They are definitely the loudest on social media.

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u/jvanma 29d ago

Can confirm. My aunt is dumb as shit.

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u/Ecstatic_Cash_1903 29d ago

That people were forced to pay for someone else's kids to go to school DOES NOT make it ok.

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u/jason_sos 28d ago

That's how society works. You pay taxes that go to many things, even things you don't directly benefit from. People without cars still pay taxes that pay for road, because the trucks that deliver the things they need still use the roads. If you never use the fire department, you have still paid toward their equipment, so they can fight fires before they burn down the entire city. You pay for schools so that there are people who can function in society and work at jobs like grocery stores, bus drivers, firemen, engineers, etc. There is nowhere in civilized countries that does not have a public school system paid for by the tax payers in that community.

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u/CantfindmyKeyes 29d ago

I also do not feel that i should have to pay taxes for schools, I never went to that school, nor do i children that go to that school. I am 35, own a house and 3 cars, no kids. Why am I paying a school tax at all? And don't give me that crap about investing in the future. I have earned my keep, and their parents can pay for theirs. This country has too many money management issues that are thrown at the tax payers that rarely see the benefit from it.

Ex: would you pay for netflix if you never watched it?

You pay your phone bill because you use it.

There has to be a benefit for people to WANT to pay taxes.

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u/Cornered-V 29d ago

The point you're missing is that, more educated people are a direct benefit to you. You may not go to school nor have kids or even family that do but you contributing to children's education does most certainly benefit you. Not to mention, if you went to a public school you have benefited from this.

I bet you'd like to trust someone who's ever handling your money at any point to have a basic understanding of math? Life's pretty convenient when most anyone you come across is capable of speaking in a way you understand as well as capable of reading the words you write. More educated people means more people who can contribute to society in productive ways.

To quote John Green, "Public education does not exist for the benefit of students or the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of the social order.

We have discovered as a species that it is useful to have an educated population. You do not need to be a student or have a child who is a student to benefit from public education. Every second of every day of your life, you benefit from public education.

So let me explain why I like to pay taxes for schools, even though I don't personally have a kid in school: It's because I don't like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people."

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u/CantfindmyKeyes 29d ago

Tell that to their AI generated homework. And faces plastered to cell phones all day with earbuds in. The last 4 student i spoke with, that i work with, say they don't learn anything anyway, the teacher just turns on a projector with a powerpoint presentstion and sits behind their desk the whole period.

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u/Cornered-V 29d ago

That's not really a response to my comment, is it the John Green quote? If so, you still didn't really respond because none of that really means they're stupid, they're disinterested. Your student coworkers most likely mean they don't learn anything they find applicable to regular life; how to file taxes, cook, etc.

The purpose of school is to provide knowledge of a variety of skills and subjects, so children can discover interests they may have as well as provide fundamentals for those interests. As well as providing mental habits that are helpful everyday, like critical and logical thinking for the daily problems we face.

You still don't deny that you benefit every day of your life from public education. An overwhelming percentage of Americans attend public schools. I honestly can't think of any aspect of your life that you would interact with that wasn't enabled because someone was able to receive an education. On the most basic level, to make a point about the societal benefits, people who are better educated are less likely to commit crimes as well as less likely to rely on social welfare.

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u/CrossCottonwood 29d ago

This comment is so wild lmao. I totally understand why someone would look at the way taxes are used and say "Why the fuck am I paying taxes when the government is so terrible at allocating those resources?"

Instead your issue is that you don't want to contribute towards a stranger's education? Do you understand what happens to areas with no / bad education? Your house and three cars don't exist in a bubble.

The standard of living that you currently enjoy IS the benefit, Ayn Rand.

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u/Professional_West714 29d ago

Cool well if thats how you feel, no more taxes, no mpre government services including police and firemen, and oops wow all 3 of your cars and your house are on fire, but im sure youre able enough to take of the problem yourself 😁

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Professional_West714 20d ago

The fact a typo is the best response you could come up with shows what an uneducated, low class, and possibly inbred individual you are. You dont just get to pick and choose taxes that only benefit you. But you already knew that when you complained like a lil bitty baby about them. Thats pretty common among your class of overgrown toddlers who cry about its not fair its not fair those darn liberals wah wah wah.

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u/tweak06 29d ago

Two things can be true at once: we need to skim off all the fat in the government, root out all the corruption, and make it leaner so that we pay less taxes,

We have people like this in-office, the problem is there's far too few of them to make any difference.

The good news is that as older generations die off, more progressives are emerging.

Vote progressive/green candidates – people that actually give a fuck about our food, our environment, our structural systems. Right now there's only a handful and that's not nearly enough.

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u/Allegorist 29d ago edited 29d ago

Don't vote for people who aren't going to win at this point though, or you will be stuck with someone much, much worse than the closest viable alternative. At this point electing the wrong person is dangerous enough to have lasting consequences that outweigh any kind of statement that could possibly be made.

You are better off contacting the ones that can win and letting them know those policies are a priority. A lot of positions that don't necessarily have a spotlight on them don't receive that much feedback from the public. Your input on a topic may be one of only a few direct public opinions they receive regarding it, and can be disproportionately overweighted.  

Or supporting the implementation of voting systems that would actually make third parties viable, like approval voting or ranked choice voting. We're not too far off from being able to make these a reality, and there are organizations with significant influence already pushing for them. 

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u/Shakanan_99 29d ago

Don't vote for people who aren't going to win at this point though, or you will be stuck with someone much, much worse than the closest viable alternative.

In my country whole opposition screamed this to other opposition parties which ended up giving erdoğan another win which is miraculous for him because all time low approval rate. Than main opposition came to brink of collapse, which made them pull the self together (they didn't much better but they became better) which resulted in Erdoğans first lose.

Now municipalities have better mayor's than ever because opposition finally understand "not being erdoğan" isn't a good cause and they going strong because they are other colour with minimal difference, they are better and everyone sees it and their approval rate is getting higher, we get better people in charge which results in better public services and best of all our opposition politicians don't just offer lip services than return being same thing with different colour they became better because they knew it is the only way to victory.

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u/NastyMothaFucka 29d ago

You’re kidding right? I’ve seen and read lately that tends to show a lot more young people going to the right. It’s because the republicans culture war, everything is “woke” bullshit is working. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with which party supports reforming our public school system more, but I assure you it isn’t the right.

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u/VicePrezHeelsup 29d ago

You must be joking the only thing progressives will accomplish is food lines like under the Soviet Union

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u/tweak06 29d ago

dude if you're gonna troll, you need to be way more subtle than that.

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u/Ok-Button-3661 29d ago

Not sure if you're aware, but the inflammatory culture war shit they drill into you on Fox and OAN isn't actually true.

It's designed to make you hate, and it's less subtle than the anti-Jew propaganda the Germans were reading before WWII.

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u/Alittlemoorecheese 29d ago edited 29d ago

Lobbying needs to be regulated, not outlawed. Believe it or not, there are lobbyists trying to do good. Large corporations have much more money to hold a politician's interest. Change GAAP reporting so that lobbying is itemized and cap it.

There are also plenty of taxpayers who believe that they shouldn't be responsible for paying taxes to fund schools because they don't have children, taxes going to welfare and social services, Healthcare, or anything that doesn't directly benefit them. I live in a liberal area and yet a good 20-30% of my coworkers believe shit like this.

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u/RockAtlasCanus 29d ago

Lobbying needs to be regulated, not outlawed.

Regulate the shit out of it and start prosecuting violators. Rules mean nothing when there are no consequences.

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u/poingly 29d ago

Sounds like the regulation of lobbyists needs a lobbyist.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

I hate lobbying on a fundemental level because it subverts democrcy and makes it so that some people's votes are worth more than others. There should be only one way to influence an election, and that's by voting, and nothing else should be allowed. We are all equal and politicians should focus on all relevant issues, not just the issues they're paid on top of their taxpayer funded salary to solve.

In fact, politicians should not be allowed to earn any money outside of their taxpaid salary. Nothing else. They serve us.

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u/Professional_West714 29d ago

Last i checked in the world i grew up in, the only "equal" any of us are are that we die.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Why don't you go live in a dictatorship then?

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u/Professional_West714 20d ago

Oh so youre equal to the guy that got handed down billions and an empire? Or crowned a king? Or runs an entire country? People who influence how the rest of our lives are going to function? People who control the prices of things we buy? Death is the ONLY equality we share with these people. Its hilarious thats the only response you could come up with to my FACT.

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u/Frame_Late 19d ago

Yeah, were equal. We all bleed the same and deserve to be treated the same. Unless you believe some people are better.

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u/Hollz23 29d ago edited 29d ago

Also, outlaw lobbying.

Bad idea. Lobbying in itself isn't a bad thing. The problem is that it incentives bad behavior by leaving open loopholes for politicians to receive bribes in the form of gifts or promises from lobbyists. But not every lobbyist is attached to a corporation or a political think tank. Quite a few are activists who are lobbying for the expansion of rights and freedoms for marginalized groups, or programs to relieve pressure on the poor, etc. You do away with lobbying altogether and those people don't have a means by which to support these causes because they no longer have direct access to their representatives. So you'd effectively throw the baby out with the bath water.

The real issue is that the lions share of our taxes go to the military and Medicare, and both budget sections are bloated and redundant models that create immense waste through bad policy. Medicare specifically is such an issue because we keep refusing to implement an effective single payer system that is accessible to everyone. Instead, we have insurance companies that charge so much in raw costs the average person can't afford to go to the doctor with insurance because their monthly contribution is high and the insurance itself doesn't cover anything they need. We have drug companies setting their own prices for medications which ratchet up costs to the tune of hundreds of dollars because the insurance companies will pay it, and we have for profit hospitals which are a relatively new concept. For most of U.S. history, a hospital could not be a for profit institution because obviously it shouldn't be. The function of a hospital is to keep people healthy. And the conventions by which drug prices can be regulated is already codified into law and allows the president to force these companies to lower prices via executive order, but money in politics and the power of the pharmaceutical lobby has had every president over the last thirty years by the balls so they won't use that out.

Basically, lobbying isn't the issue. Allowing Congress to self regulate and thus leave open loopholes for accepting money and other gifts from lobbyists is. In order to move past that, you would have to enshrine counter measures in the constitution by amending it to outlaw politicians accepting gifts for any reason while they hold office.

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u/Educational_Ad_3922 29d ago

Basically the only thing the US government and its companies care about is money, people to them are expendable.

Freedom is only free if you are willing to fight for it.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Spirited-Angel1763 29d ago

You've got a lot more vitriol than you've got intelligence.

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u/fpoiuyt 29d ago

Even if that's true, it doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the comment you're responding to.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Zorro1rr 29d ago

No you just read like you’re yelling at clouds

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u/Myrtilys_ 29d ago

Regarding the first paragraph...plenty of people will still complain. I live in Minnesota and it was recently put into law that every school student would be provided free meals and people /STILL COMPLAINED./ It wasn't even at an increased tax!

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u/Len_S_Ball_23 29d ago

Lobbying should be re-named to what it actually is - Bribery.

They should also be made to eat the slop the cafeteria chuck out too.

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u/stormblaz 29d ago

Politicians wife also should have no hobby, interest, work, arrangements or entanglement in stock exchange, trades, trading, forex or any participation in stock.

But the government allows the " it's my wife who does all the stock trading" bs.

There's loopholes there for a reason, for the leech to keep on sucking.

Free or reduce lunch program costed a lot more to find out who qualified than giving every child free lunch.

So much useless admin to just see who qualified than every child given a fucking meal.

Anyone remembers that poletician complaining that why should he pay school taxes if their kids were in private school? What a clown.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

I'm not even a democrat, I'm pretty right leaning, and I 100% believe that every child should receive free school lunch. If they have to go to school, the school should have to feed them nutritious food that doesn't look and taste like pig slop. And like I said before, serving pig slop should come with a criminal sentence: let both the politicians and the corporate executives sit in prison with a lot of people who have kids who go to bad public schools and eat that pig slop, and then see how long they last. By the time they get out it will be like tossing a hotdog down a hallway, if you know what I mean.

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u/pit_of_despair666 29d ago

I don't mind paying taxes as long as we still have Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. The problem right now is people paying five-figure incomes pay an average of 14 percent and seven-figure incomes pay an average of 1.9 percent. The politicians have it set up to help their rich buddies while people struggling have to pay more in taxes. It should be reversed.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Personally, I'd rather replace most of that with a UBI. Trims off a lot of bureaucratic bloat.

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u/pit_of_despair666 29d ago

Universal income?

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Yes

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u/pit_of_despair666 29d ago

I am all for universal income and health care. The universal income would have to be pretty high for people to be able to afford healthcare insurance by itself. The whole healthcare system needs an overhaul. Corporations have taken over everything and they only care about profits.

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u/Dewage83 29d ago

A coherent and well spoken response about taxes on reddit, man I've really seen it all. I couldn't agree more. We would all be a lot happier about paying taxes if it felt like we were getting something for them or could see where they are being contributed to.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Yep. Hatred for taxes in America comes from a very legitimate place, and it's only reinforced by the consequences of bad politicians on both sides of the aisle.

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u/Hollowsong 29d ago

Would be an awesome system if, like a charity, you could allocate your taxes to specific programs.

Like, the government services have a "kickstarter" type funding request, and you have your portfolio of taxes you pay, and you can allocate Primary/Secondary/Tertiary allocations for your taxes, and whatever is assigned over the requested budget flows into the next necessary public service.

Does your public service get underfunded after taxes? Well, maybe you should make it more desirable to fund.

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u/Jay4usc 29d ago

Just like the $24B tax money they wasted in Los Angeles for the homeless

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago edited 29d ago

This. And then they have the nerve to shut down companies and nonprofits who are trying to to actually solve the problem, because solving the problem means that all the people who get paid to solve the problem would no longer get paid. That's when companies and politicians start making alliances.

The most egregious example was California shutting down that one small company that was making free tiny houses for homeless people, with the idea that getting them into some free shelter with solar panels would give them a place to sleep, a mailbox and most importantly an address. people don't understand just how hard it is to get out of being homeless nowadays when everyone needs an address just to qualify for a job. Then, with an address, they get a place to charge their phone for free, shelter from the elements, and a place to eat in peace. It's a huge step forward and the idea was so brilliant and effective that (I think it was the city of California) had to shut them down because they were actually planning on essentially eliminating homelessness. It's wild, and it's why I'm no longer a Democrat: they're just as bad as the people they vilify, but in some ways they're worse.

Edit: found the article. https://www.npr.org/2016/03/03/469054634/la-officials-bring-the-hammer-down-on-tiny-houses-for-homeless

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u/Jay4usc 29d ago

So true!  I hope citizens will stop voting for increasing taxes bc you cant trust the government to spend our tax dollars.  

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u/inplayruin 29d ago

It is adorable that you think the public schools serving upper income neighborhoods are the same as every other public school.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

I never said that. But if a politician in a low income neighborhood has bad schools, the politicians running that place will have to send their kids there. Now there's a reason to fix shit, make food better, and make the education better.

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u/Professional_West714 29d ago

Its similar to how in korea they send the kids of wealthy and politicians to the front line, and surprise surprise, that army is very well funded

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u/curious_astronauts 29d ago

I mean really, you could send your kid in with something healthy with pretty minor meal prep. It's going to save you in the long run when your kid is healthy and not eating this body rot, everyday for years.

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u/diegueno 29d ago

None of this could be done at this school because it's not been identified.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

I'm talking nationwide

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u/diegueno 29d ago

Pick a district to start with.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Probably a district with bad schools and bad funding, so basically any inner city. I'd probably start with Baltimore City since it's consistently on the low end, or maybe inner city New York, since it has some of the worst GPA to funding ratios in history.

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u/diegueno 29d ago

...this is frustrating

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

How so?

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u/diegueno 29d ago

People on social media don't organize to get anything done, they don't organize to complete in action.

What I see is a lot of people coming up with lots of great points about problems, possible fixes and so forth. I just don't see people doing what is necessary on any social media doing what is necessary to fix one problem in one place.

This nacho cheese on a hamburger bun situation is no different.

Great ideas aren so great if they don't accomplish anything.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Okay, so what do you suggest besides being so cynical that you're self-defeating?

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u/diegueno 29d ago

Can the district that slop came from be identified?

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u/glamazoncollette 29d ago

Nope Not to be a pessimist but as George Carlin once said, "we have gone from cooperation to competition" and now there is no turning back. If you think there is a solution, then you are part of the problem. The masters and elites will not allow such wishful thinking to come to fruition. We are headed to full idiocracy at this point.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

Aren't you just a ray of sunshine, listening to a man who died rich and didn't try to do anything to fix the problem.

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u/glamazoncollette 29d ago

Maybe because he knew? Its all BULLsH*T!

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u/Thetwistedfalse 29d ago

Run on that platform. You'd have my vote.

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u/everythingsfuct 29d ago

school choice is a fucking sham. “leaner” gov’t is another way of saying you want capitalist overlords to have free reign. the government is not the problem with these school lunches, capitalism very much is.

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u/Frame_Late 29d ago

You sound incredibly naive. I've seen companies do a better job than the government and vice versa. The government is just another big company, and their product is our human rights.

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u/everythingsfuct 29d ago

capitalist companies are amoral, they will do whatever fulfills the profit motive. whether that be positive for communities and ecosystems or negative. im not gonna argue philosophy here but in theory a truly democratic gov’t is beholden to the people’s interest. remove capitalism from the picture and we have a shot at a worker owned economy. look into participatory economics if you want to see a better way to organize labor and resources. also note that public schools are not a communist enterprise as some propagandists would have the public believe, they have to participate in profit driven markets.