What kinds of education do we need in our economy for us to be successful as a nation/state?
This ought not to be decided, determined, or dictated by the "nation/state."
What investment are we willing to make to ensure that our education needs are met in a way that will benefit everyone the most efficiently?
That would depend upon who you mean as:
- "we"
(individuals and their families? government? Or...?)- "our"
(US citizens who have funded the system? foreign nationals arriving on our shores for higher education which many US citizens are unable to fund for their own children? Or...? )- "everyone"
(US citizens? government? Or...?)Will that be direct investment of public money, incentives, tax breaks/benefits?
Please be aware that ALL public money to be collected in the next several decades has already been spent. This is why we have a burgeoning
National Debt.
All laws/taxes/spending are simply an expression of what kind of society we want to live in and what we value.
Do we value a society of freedom for our children? Or one in which they are assigned, as slaves, to jobs, housing, etc by a government to which they owe all of their earnings, based on the government spending (some may say overspending) and increased
National Debt incurred in the past decade?
Looking ahead, we need a vibrant and thriving workforce to support the government entitlement demands of the large aging population in the US.
Do I detect a double-standard, in you calling out "
the government entitlement demands of the large aging population"? In a
society based in large part on reciprocity, in which US citizens pool a portion of their money (through taxes, Social Security FICA, insurance programs, charities, etc) to ease the burden of greatest need... ought not the persons who've paid into the system for decades be able to have some portion of their investment returned to them when they are in need and no longer working - possibly forced into early retirement by a shrinking US economy, corporate consolidations, decisions to hire younger workers, etc?
Do we have enough high wage earners in the education pipeline to do this?
Enough "
high wage earners" or
potential future wage earners? Citizens who've not yet worked and contributed to the system... but believe they are entitled to having the system further invest in them?
In a certain sense, investing in education now will likely pay us back as a society exponentially through higher wages, more jobs and more spending by the lower debt graduates later.
To the degree that many jobs are being replaced by technology, and more of the available jobs in the future are projected to be in a
service economy, not requiring college degrees, one may be wise to carefully consider the types of post-secondary education one wishes to engage in... including one's debt as compared with potential job prospects and earnings. The US Gov't Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Occupational Outlook Handbook (
OOH) is a free resource, accessible to all. The
College Board AP also offers a bit of information for career planning.
As mentioned on a similar thread about 4 years ago,
1) distributing the cost of college among all tax-paying citizens may
unduly burden those not attending college... which some may consider socially unjust,
2) there may be an ironic balance in that getting more
"free" stuff often comes with a tradeoff of being less "free" as an increasing number of life-decisions may be made for a person by an outside entity.
