Fred from Eden Prairie, Minnesota writes: "I'm a single guy with no kids, and I've been hearing a lot about schools this and schools that. So many bleeding hearts complaining that the schools need more money and the teachers need more, etc. The complaint I've got is that I'm forced to pay for schools through my taxes even though I don't have any kids. Why should I pay for someone else's kids to go to school? I don't think I should have to pay for that."
Well, Fred, you seem to have given this issue a lot of thought, and that's a good thing. You've come to a conclusion, and the hottest corner of hell is reserved for those with no conclusions . . . or some old adage like that. I'll be joining you in the cooler regions of hades because I've got a conclusion too. But it's different from yours.
There are many reasons to "pay for someone else's kids to go to school." I'll start in ascending order from the least to the greatest:
First, the generations before us paid a ton of dough to establish some of the best infrastructure in the world. When you're driving down the highway with your donut and coffee in hand, you're likely to forget that the highway beneath your wheels cost a fortune to build, and it took some of the best minds in the world to design, engineer, and assemble the US transportation system, of which your highway is only a small part. When you answer your cellphone and spill your coffee in your lap, veer off that paved road and hit a telephone pole, there will be emergency workers all over the place within minutes trying to get you to a competent doctor at a well-equipped and well-staffed hospital. This very discussion is being shot across a little piece of infrastructure pioneered by your Uncle Sam. (The internet was originally a national defense mechanism.) And what made all of this miraculous infrastructure possible? Some of the best schools in the world and a populous willing to support them.
Second, we need look no further than Asia for another reason to spend a lot of our tax dollars on the education of other peoples's kids. Specifically speaking, the reasons are China, South Korea, Japan, and India. (Not necessarily in that order.) While it's true that American students have a far greater ability to think out of the box, the Asian students are being taught to master subjects like mathematics, engineering, geometry, physics, and so on. In other words, if we don't educate our kids really well in science, math and technology, Asia is going to kick our butts. (They're going to pass us by regardless of what we do, it's just a question of to what degree.)
Third, its obvious that you're able to form sentences on a computer keyboard. That means someone somewhere paid for you to go to school. When I was a kid, most families had three kids, four kids, five or more. The Catholics down the street had 13! (Your parents probably cranked out more than just you, Freddy, didn't they? No one has an only child and names him Fred!) That old librarian who never married, the old fart bachelor down the street, the gay couple who pretended to be roommates on Oak Street, and the couple who lived up on the hill and wanted to travel instead of change diapers; they all paid for you to get an education. So the best answer I can give you as to why you should pay for other peoples' kids to go to school is because someone paid for you!
Now, lest you go accusing me of being a bleeding heart, I do understand that there is waste. Some of the teachers unions might be getting a bit drunk with their power, and they make it hard to fire crappy teachers. (This means you, Mrs. Carlson!) But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, Fred. The portion of taxes you fork out for schools is money actually quite well spent. And in the end, it comes back to you exponentially. America is truly a great country. Much of its greatness comes from high-quality, well-maintained, and well-funded infrastructure. Schools are part of the infrastructure that makes America great!
Daddydoit
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