The annual ACX review contest is well underway, and readers of this blog make take special pleasure in noting that the first two contestants are about education!
The second one, which came out yesterday, reviews school as an institution and proposes a novel theory as to why it doesn’t work well. The first one, meanwhile, reviews a particular school that is doing many novel things, and proposes a theory as to why it works great — at least for some definitions of “great”.
Both are worth your time. Together, they might constitute the highest-quality debate about education going on anywhere in the world this month. You can read one of my comments on the second here.1
Because we had so much to say about it, Alessandro and I recorded a special conversation yesterday about the first review. Things get a little spicy by the end — I, um, do regret my use of the phrase “lipstick on a pig” when talking about IXL! (What AlphaSchool in particular is attempting is something I find thrilling.)
Feel free to use the comments section here as a space to talk about both of these reviews. Just (1) make clear which review you’re talking about, and (2) be extra kind when you disagree with something, and the more kind the more you disagree. (Imagine that either reviewer might be reading your comments…)
p.s. — If you’ve never voted in one of Scott Alexander’s review contests before, consider doing so this year. He’ll be posting one new review per week-ish for the next couple months. Expect them to all be high-quality, and to say something interesting and new about the world.
I’ve also commented a couple times on the first one… but Substack doesn’t make it easy for me to find my own comments, there are a lot for that review — five minutes of scrolling couldn’t locate any. If you happen upon them, feel free to share ‘em in the comments here, and I’ll try to update this.
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