Re: OT: Politics [Was:Social Contract]

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

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