you stupid fool, do you know how expensive private school costs to a single parent family compared to free public school?
For high school about $2500 a year, or slightly more than you can earn at a full-time, minimum wage no-skills job in a summer.
Grade school costs less, but you can't work when you're 12 years old.
You would do yourself some good if you actually took some time to learn about the world outside of your own rich country.
I have actually spent a great deal of time learning about the world outside the U.S. (both by reading and by living and travelling abroad). From what I've seen, the more people rely on politics to govern their interactions with each other and the less they rely on free will, the worse off they are.
Are people in third world countries poor because their governments lack the money to provide universal socialized education, or because they are corrupt and have too much power over them? 200 years ago we were just as poor as the rest of the world is now, but we built a government that had very strict limits on its power and we prospered under it.
Government schools, for instance, barely existed in ANY form here until the mid 1800's, and they didn't have a big impact on society until after 1900. What do we really learn from them even now that's so great, anyway? All my public school taught me was how to do algebra and avoid attracting the attention of bullies; I learned good social skills, how to read and write, and history from my parents, and they probably could have taught me the algebra too if they'd borrowed a book or two.
most people in those countries can't leave for another job because there are so few jobs that exist that pay better
The U.S. didn't have any restrictive labor laws either until the beginning of the 20th century (around the same time it cut immigration down to a trickle to keep those darn poor people out). While it's true that we had some pretty horrid working conditions back then, you have to remember that people were willing to travel half way around the world for those conditions, so it must have been a step up from what ever hell they were enduring before. Some of these uneducated people remained where they were in life, but a lot more of them learned valuable skills and broke into the middle class (or even struck it rich). The only reason why people in poor countries now don't have more choices is that a) they have so much corruption and so many regulations that's too expensive to start businesses there, and b) because their governments and governments in developed countries make it too costly for existing companies to move there to take advantage of low wages. Without these barriers to commerce there would be plenty of jobs for them to chose from, just like there were plenty of jobs for immigrants to the U.S. to chose from 100 years ago.
Most people can't or won't send their children to private school if there is no public education Another thing that most people forget is that a good education pays for itself, and lenders are more than willing to cash in on this fact. Just because a person gets turned down for a credit card or a car loan doesn't mean they're going to get turned down for night classes in literacy. Banks know that people who can read almost always earn more than people who can't, so they'll give educational loans to people who flat out wouldn't qualify for anything else.
I'll agree to disagree with anyone regarding the purpose and limits of government, but until I see a good argument for politics over free will, I'll move where ever I need to to have more free will.
Where are all these uneducated masses going to come from? Suppose a free state did privatize education and reduce regulation of business.
Are people really so stupid that they're going to stop going to school just because you stop forcing them to go? Are they so stupid that they'll borrow money to buy a big screen tv but they won't borrow money to pay for school?
Are workers so stupid that they'll stay at jobs that pay 'unfair' wages when there are better paying ones out there within their reach? (and there WILL be fair-paying ones because the whole idea of employers having all the power and employees taking whatever they can get is crap - if it were true then we'd all be making minimum wage or be in business for ourselves)
Notice I'm not talking about irresponsibility here - just stupidity. People in a free state are going to go to school and demand whatever wages they can get because it's a no-brainer to do these things, not because they're responsible.
Maybe some people will argue that people really are stupid enough not to see that it's easier to make more money by learning a skill and by shopping around for jobs. Somehow, though, I doubt it.
"I'll never understand why I'm 'elitist' just because I give the average person enough credit to tell their ass from a hole in the ground."
Slashdot Mirror
That's what financial aid is for.
For high school about $2500 a year, or slightly more than you can earn at a full-time, minimum wage no-skills job in a summer. Grade school costs less, but you can't work when you're 12 years old.
I have actually spent a great deal of time learning about the world outside the U.S. (both by reading and by living and travelling abroad). From what I've seen, the more people rely on politics to govern their interactions with each other and the less they rely on free will, the worse off they are.
Are people in third world countries poor because their governments lack the money to provide universal socialized education, or because they are corrupt and have too much power over them? 200 years ago we were just as poor as the rest of the world is now, but we built a government that had very strict limits on its power and we prospered under it.
Government schools, for instance, barely existed in ANY form here until the mid 1800's, and they didn't have a big impact on society until after 1900. What do we really learn from them even now that's so great, anyway? All my public school taught me was how to do algebra and avoid attracting the attention of bullies; I learned good social skills, how to read and write, and history from my parents, and they probably could have taught me the algebra too if they'd borrowed a book or two.
most people in those countries can't leave for another job because there are so few jobs that exist that pay better
The U.S. didn't have any restrictive labor laws either until the beginning of the 20th century (around the same time it cut immigration down to a trickle to keep those darn poor people out). While it's true that we had some pretty horrid working conditions back then, you have to remember that people were willing to travel half way around the world for those conditions, so it must have been a step up from what ever hell they were enduring before. Some of these uneducated people remained where they were in life, but a lot more of them learned valuable skills and broke into the middle class (or even struck it rich). The only reason why people in poor countries now don't have more choices is that a) they have so much corruption and so many regulations that's too expensive to start businesses there, and b) because their governments and governments in developed countries make it too costly for existing companies to move there to take advantage of low wages. Without these barriers to commerce there would be plenty of jobs for them to chose from, just like there were plenty of jobs for immigrants to the U.S. to chose from 100 years ago.
Most people can't or won't send their children to private school if there is no public education Another thing that most people forget is that a good education pays for itself, and lenders are more than willing to cash in on this fact. Just because a person gets turned down for a credit card or a car loan doesn't mean they're going to get turned down for night classes in literacy. Banks know that people who can read almost always earn more than people who can't, so they'll give educational loans to people who flat out wouldn't qualify for anything else.
I'll agree to disagree with anyone regarding the purpose and limits of government, but until I see a good argument for politics over free will, I'll move where ever I need to to have more free will.
Are people really so stupid that they're going to stop going to school just because you stop forcing them to go? Are they so stupid that they'll borrow money to buy a big screen tv but they won't borrow money to pay for school?
Are workers so stupid that they'll stay at jobs that pay 'unfair' wages when there are better paying ones out there within their reach? (and there WILL be fair-paying ones because the whole idea of employers having all the power and employees taking whatever they can get is crap - if it were true then we'd all be making minimum wage or be in business for ourselves)
Notice I'm not talking about irresponsibility here - just stupidity. People in a free state are going to go to school and demand whatever wages they can get because it's a no-brainer to do these things, not because they're responsible.
Maybe some people will argue that people really are stupid enough not to see that it's easier to make more money by learning a skill and by shopping around for jobs. Somehow, though, I doubt it.
"I'll never understand why I'm 'elitist' just because I give the average person enough credit to tell their ass from a hole in the ground."