RE: The inherent contradiction of RBE style philosophies
That is a really radical idea, there are so many issues involved with implementing this kind of thing however. I would say that I don't quite agree yet with turning schools into a competition ladder, only purely because it seems very game-able for the more affluent kids. Continuing this thought, it seems that there wouldn't be much incentive for the more affluent kids to even go to school anymore, assuming their parent/s are better teachers and have a better learning platform than the schools. Inducting them into their business seems to make more sense.
After thinking about it for a bit I guess that this kind of system wouldn't actually be that bad as there is always ways to innovate on many different scales. The richer kids will probably be doing it on a much larger scale than others.
Yeah, it turns learning into a two way market. Students' costs are low and often they have a great deal of financial support. But their performance, if it is incentivised by winning money not just a great mark, it brings a lot more people into it. Even the 'i dun care about money' crowd will still aim at their own personal performance targets and get what they deserve regardless of what they think about the system.
The amount of money to pay the teachers also then becomes directly relatable to the performance of their students as well. A leaderboard for teachers will be part of it as well, and the more successful they are at warping the bell curve to the benefit of all, the more highly regarded are those who helped acquire the qualifications. It would be an incredible boon to education. It is something Steem could adapt part of its functionality to as well.