Originally Posted by ultramarina
Quote
if I have just $10 to spend, and I'm presented with two students, one of whom is working four grades BELOW cohort and cannot seem to learn to read.... and the other of whom is working four grades ABOVE cohort and is ready for advanced mathematics/etc... my impulse is to give that funding where it is an investment for society, not just a momentary way of making myself feel awesome and charitable.

But if you're illiterate and/or don't graduate from HS, you're much more likely to struggle in myriad ways and to require costly support from the state, including AFDC, etc and, unfortunately, possibly jail time, which is very, VERY expensive. Investing in helping kids who are struggling in school actually makes tons of economic sense in ways that are probably a lot more easily quantifiable than investing in the gifted.

I can see both points. Right now, this country invests next to nothing at the K-12 level for the education of its brightest students. And we invest hundreds of millions or billions into programs for "underserved" students. I agree completely that getting lower-performing students into good jobs is critical --- but the problem is a lot bigger than just education. Education is great, but what if you spend all that time in college and still end up serving lattes in Starbuck's because there aren't any jobs for you? This is reality for a lot of young people today, and they have student loans to pay off on their $10 plus glass-jar-tips. The loss of skilled and semi-skilled jobs in this country is a huge problem and no number of degrees in subjects like business, journalism, and liberal studies will change that.

IMO, the system is broken in almost every way (there are a very few bright spots), and things won't improve until we get serious as a nation about addressing this fact.