The irony is that it likely costs less money long-term--but more work in the mid-term--to improve instruction and conditions in low-performing schools. Not to go off on too much of a tangent here, but the added costs to society of decreased productivity alone offset the false savings of not investing in effective K-12 education for everyone. And this is without even getting into the significant increased costs that result from social services over a lifetime for adults who aren't able to access jobs with living wages, or the even more dicey conversation regarding costs to society from increased crime (where there is a long-standing negative correlation between both literacy and high school completion, and involvement in the criminal justice system).
The quality (or lack) of K-12 general STEM education also has real-life implications even for those who finish their STEM education at grade 12. Exhibit A: public response to the pandemic.
