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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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What frustrates me is schools are frequently very willing to spend money on sports related expenses. A librarian left a a New Hampshire school $4 million dollars. They spent $100,000 on the library and $1 million on a new scoreboard (source) In the vast majority of states the highest paid employee is a football coach (source). Local governments don't really care about education and because local governments are typically elected to me that means American citizens don't really care about education either.
The school you’re talking about is my alma mater, what they did is even worse then you describe.
That librarian was neurodivergent and left his savings to the university at which he worked with no specific restrictions.
The university execs wanted to use the money on sports, and directed the advancement department to create a narrative to support that decision. They found a mention he enjoyed watching sports at the nursing home during the last months of his life.
Close friends said he wasn’t interested in sports at all - he loved numbers and statistics, and at the end of his life at a nursing home the only numbers he could get to were baseball statistics. He couldn’t care less about the sport, he just liked the math.
UNH rewrote his life and personality to justify spending his gift on athletics.
https://deadspin.com/how-unh-turned-a-quiet-benefactor-into-a-football-marke-1819064622
That's a frustrating read but I'm glad I got to see a glimpse of the man who was just a random bit of trivia rattling around in my head. I'm going to try to remember Robert Morin as a kind man who loved learning and generosity. To me those are wonderful traits. And I'm willing to bet that the name Robert Morin will live on in that library for generations to come. Thanks for posting this.
Even sadder considering UNH is known for having a strong teaching program, whereas no one ever talks about their sports.
Many Americans don't recognize the importance of paying attention to local politics, even when they care about education.
We're at a point where, in my opinion, that's analogous to someone smoking and chewing tobacco their whole life and then being shocked when they're diagnosed with cancer.
I know that comes across as sanctimonious and that isn't my intention I'm just frustrated with amount of willful ignorance in our society.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree. I just felt the need to point out that there are still a great many people who value education but are not part of the solution, due to ignorance (ironically), apathy, or hopelessness.
I understand. I think I misunderstood slightly. I apologize if that came across abrasive.
No, not at all! No offense taken, just felt the need to clarify, like I said.
One is a real physical addiction, the other is willful obstinacy.
I think the surprise is the key element being compared
I don’t know of any addict of any substance, including food, who is surprised. I’m sure it happens, but in my underserved area, living to seventy or older is the real surprise.
That's the point being made - it's as absurd as an addict to a known cancerous substance being surprised at getting cancer.
Oh. Itt i fail sarcasm.
It's worse than that. A lot of school boards are run by right-wing assholes because a lot of Americans are very concerned about education in the sense that they want to prevent children from learning anything about how the world actually works.
I’ve seen worse over ~15 years of nonprofit management. Not that this isn’t bad. I’m just saying it gets much worse.
Wow, I'm not going to lie. Out of sheer morbid curiosity I'd really be interested in seeing how that sausage gets made. You should consider keeping a journal and maybe writing a memoir someday. A kitchen confidential for nonprofits.
Here’s some of my most recent ones, they piss me off:
One useless parasite who hasn’t done any work in 15 years is on the payroll at $300K/year. Literally did no work for years. That person’s work now consists of organizing meetings (no more than 1 per week, often with months of no activity).
Similarly, one person who retired 10 years ago is still paid quarter time, which works out to about $120K/year. His sole activity is attending meetings once every few months.
Routine “housing allowances” paid to higher ups. $100K for a mortgage went to a completely worthless individual.
Higher ups expensing dinners for themselves with literally $200 bottles of wine. Any fucking occasion, gotta throw a party - “retirements”, someone joining, someone leaving, fucking birthdays, so-and-so won an award, etc.
edit: nepotism. Oh my fuck, the nepotism. Hire so-and-so’s spouse as a “consultant” when I myself could have done the work for no extra money and 1/50th the time. But no, let’s waste $60K on a worthless consultant that has no goddamn domain knowledge and possibly fewer than 3 firing neurons.
It comes down to flagrant elitism and rampant entitlement. “We deserve it because we’re so fucking awesome”. And it gets worse than what I’ve written here. I manage a fucking nonprofit that’s supposed to help people in dire need, people who will die without us.
I honestly think a publisher might be interested in a book like this. You should consider it. They have people to help with the writing and if you're ethical and give a coauthored credit I bet there's a ghostwriter out there who would love to publish a good old fashioned muckraker with you.
Eh, maybe when I retire. I’m dependent on these assholes for my living. And I’m trying to move shit in the right direction.
Next Christmas season I am just giving money to random homeless people who ask me for it. At least I know 100% of that money will go to them.
I’ve stopped giving charity except to local food banks and schools (and I give the schools prepackaged snacks for the kids). Because I see how the money is used. And the assholes I work for have the nerve to ask EMPLOYEES to make contributions. As if I can’t see all this shit.
Yeah I stopped doing the corporate charity bullshit. No I won't round up my purchase to some foundation run by a nephew of the CEO. If this matters so much to this corporation they can pay for it.
Americans only care about education if they can win at it
A scoreboard can be an investment though if they can increase attendance at the games.
Education should be a cost to the state, as a tax payer funded human right. It should not be a for profit business
I'm not sure how that fits in this discussion. We're talking about how a donation was spent. If that donation can be used to generate a stream of money to be used instead of simply used up all at once, it's advantageous to do so.
I've heard that argument. I see the point at least a little. I personally don't find it convincing. If game attendance is high enough it should be able to fund itself. If it isn't then I believe those monies could be more productive elsewhere.
People shouldn't downvote you though because they disagree with you though. You're just offering your own personal perspective.