The United States spent a total of $672.9 Billion on Military Spending in 2013. Now to put that in perspective, the same government that spent $98.5 Billion on Department of Transportation, and a whopping $71.9 Billion on the Department of Education.
So my government is spending more money sending undereducated people to go fight, and more money to transport undereducated people around, than they are spending to educate these undereducated people. No wonder the whole world doesn't like America.
It is a well documented fact that if you invest more in education, crime rates drop, public health increases, and over all you develop a more productive society, yet this is the opposite policy adopted by my country. I am ashamed to call myself American, because it is clear that it no longer means that I am a citizen in the land of the free, but that I am a beneficiary of warmongering practices, and am not sure if or how I can reconcile that.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w8605
Corporations make a boat load of money every fiscal year, and yet their employees don't make enough money to survive, let alone flourish. It used to be that fast food jobs here were for kids to make extra money during high school and college, now the average age of food and beverage/ fast food workers, 28 years old. People are trying to support families on minimum wage thanks to trickle down economics.
So my government is spending more money sending undereducated people to go fight, and more money to transport undereducated people around, than they are spending to educate these undereducated people. No wonder the whole world doesn't like America.
It is a well documented fact that if you invest more in education, crime rates drop, public health increases, and over all you develop a more productive society, yet this is the opposite policy adopted by my country. I am ashamed to call myself American, because it is clear that it no longer means that I am a citizen in the land of the free, but that I am a beneficiary of warmongering practices, and am not sure if or how I can reconcile that.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w8605
Corporations make a boat load of money every fiscal year, and yet their employees don't make enough money to survive, let alone flourish. It used to be that fast food jobs here were for kids to make extra money during high school and college, now the average age of food and beverage/ fast food workers, 28 years old. People are trying to support families on minimum wage thanks to trickle down economics.
Save
Cancel
@Nicholas - My line of work is in the education sector halfway across the world. Here its a different story, our government pays for the education but due to lack of sincerity on part of students we are producing ineffective, unemployable graduates... millions of them every year. We agree we dont provide them the best of facilities or other needed stuff but we are giving them an opportunity which is in itself a great feat given our circumstances. I believe the issue is far deeper than funding!
Save
Cancel
@Praveen-True, Over here our Education system is based around a 1950's era mentality of taking orders, and following direction in case of an attack, creating an effective but lacking drone. It is a deep issue here of separation, each State being mostly in charge of how it runs its Public Schools, where the majority standards are designed by very polar views. Public schools in the south edit out a lot of content from a lot of areas, and the Federal Government gives out money based contd...
Save
Cancel
... on performance but the standards are different for every state, so there is a fundamental gap in standards, and it shows in the economy, crime rates, general welfare of the environment, etc. So how would one address the standards variations? Keeping in mind that the majority of them are due to religious bias, I see no easily managed solutions.
Save
Cancel
I was referring to college graduates in my comment. Nevertheless, the issue is not about funding but about preparing our youth for a more productive life. Off late the job environment is changing so fast that no school / college / curriculum can guarantee a job. Instead they can only catalyze our development to live up to the task. Education -> Job is no longer simple or straight forward. In such challenging circumstances we cannot afford to marginalize education in the name of religion, etc.
Save
Cancel
There is a 500 character limit on every comment.
The input box border turns 'Orange' when you are half way through and 'Red'
after you reach the limit. Line breaks are not allowed in comments.
Post Comment
Cancel