On 2006-04-30, Christopher Nelson penned: > On Sat, Apr 29, 2006 at 09:43:35PM -0400, Roberto C. Sanchez wrote: > >> Besides, why is it my job to *guarantee* that you can send your >> children to school for free? If you can't afford to raise them, >> then don't have them. Really, why should I pay taxes for education >> my entire life when kids only go to school for 12-16 years? > > The same reason you should pay taxes for roads you don't drive > on--because at all stages of life having an educated workforce > benifits you, just as it benifits you for people (eg utility > companies) to drive on roads you particularly don't use. Or would > you rather not pay your doctor to pass high school anatomy and > biology?
It's a sad reality that not all adults are responsible. Add to this the fact that most teens aren't fully responsible, and that there is a huge stigma to abortion, and that one half of the parental equation sometimes skips out or is such a bad influence that they actually need to be removed from the child's life, and people who have children without being financially prepared are simply a reality, not something we can wish away with ideas like, "If you can't afford to raise them, don't have them." So it's a reality that there will be kids whose parents can't afford to pay for education. Now, here in the US, those kids will eventually be able to vote. I do feel that I benefit from a voting public that has at least a high school education. I also feel that, in an environment where a good general education is strongly tied to income (vocational schools don't seem nearly as popular here as in Europe, and their students don't seem to be nearly as respected), I don't want a large fraction of the population to be impoverished. I have visions of "Let them eat cake!" followed by guillotines. As for me, I attended public schools throughout my education. They did d*mn well by me. I'll grant that I went to a high school that routinely ranks in the top of schools nationwide, and furthermore that I was lucky in that I was in the accelerated track, which tends to draw highly motivated teachers, but in any case, I don't feel I missed out by getting a public school education. I do wish everyone had access to the kinds of teachers I had in high school. -- monique Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
