February 25, 2011

The Value of "Stuff"

Education...In a nutshell, education is the future prosperity or destruction of this country. Yet our education system is failing. People on the left claim we don't "invest" enough of our tax dollars in education and if we simply tripled the education budget, all problems would be solved. People on the "right" claim that the real problem is the material we are using to teach with. That is a symptom, but not the root cause of the problem. The real problem with education is that we have made it a so called "right". Education is free for all and everyone gets an opportunity to attend school. Now, there are countries in Asia and Africa where families would kill to get their children just the opportunity to learn to read, meanwhile, in many inner cities the dropout rate is well over 50%. Why is that?
The answer is simple, and BHO's financial policies have demonstrated that answer perfectly. By flooding the world market with US dollars, they have become so easy to come by that they are losing their value. Money is a commodity and therefore people want it. We must make education a commodity as well and that means putting an end to the free ride education system. A child's education must be something of value in society. It must be of value to the parents as well as the children.
Question: How much value does something have in society where not only is it given away for free, but it becomes mandatory for people to take it, whether they want it or not?

The answer is none.

The solution is to make education something to fight for. Make education something to earn. Privatize the schools and allow them to compete. Give large tax incentives to low income parents of children who excel in school. Force parents to actually take the time to actually bring their children to and from the school they attend rather than sticking their children on free public bussing, after all, parenting is a responsibility, not a right. Set up different types of schools for children with different abilities. Above all, parents must have final say so in subject matter taught when it comes to moral, social and religious issues. One reason parents no longer take interest in their children's educations is that they are given no say whatsoever in what or how their children are taught. The problem with the Bush "no child left behind act" is that it should have been labelled the "no child gets ahead act" because that is how it, and the education system in general is set up. Rather than making an education system that is nothing more than a one size fits all production line, we must tailor the education system to the individual needs of individual students or the society based on individualism that we have come to love will be lost to the circular file of history.

One last thing, the same thing will happen to our healthcare system that is happening with our education system if those who want to destroy our country succeed in implementing obamahealthcaredestruction. Nobody in this country will even care about going to a doctor because it will be as tedious as the dmv and as useless as our education system.

Comments (19)

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Having gone through the abuse of teaching, you've hit the nail on the head and I am jealous that I wasn't able to articulate it like you have. Parents truly don't care because, unlike in the Philippines where parents have to invest both financially and physically (the government pays for the building and teacher and that's it, books, supplies and dress code clothing are all the parent's responsibility) and those kids completely embarrass ours in their test scores. Heck in high school, they teach abstract algebra. Something only a math major at college take here and shocked the heck of out me. It should shock the heck out of us too, but the only thing that shocks us now is the elimination of handouts.
2 replies · active 735 weeks ago
My mother was a teacher who fought the union takeover in Tennessee in the late 1960s and 1970s. I have simply expressed what I was taught. She was an english teacher by specialty. When the unions took over, we moved from Tennessee. She worked as a paralegal after that and partially homeschooled me, which is how I learned to express my views as I do. Until recently, my mom opposed homeschooling having heard that children need to learn social skills which is Marxist propaganda. Glenn Beck coming to Fox and exposing what is being taught in public schools changed her mind. As far as expressing views goes, I strive for consistency. I believe that many things public such as roads and parks should be privatized. There's no reason private companies couldn't maintain a road or park just as well as a municipality or county/ state government. In fact, they would do so at far less cost with more accountability.
By the way, thanks as always for taking the time to read my writings. Now you don't have to be jealous of how I worded this viewpoint because now you can too. Don't be afraid to copy this and reuse it. It's my goal to get these ideas out so if you find them valuable, share them, edit them, improve upon them so that others can do the same. We are winning this debate in the realm of ideas. Our opponents are retreating. We cannot let up now!!!
You're singin' my song, Andrew! The other half of the equation is to end welfare, food stamps, public housing, etc.

Now, people can sit on their asses and be a complete waste of skin, playing xbox all day, whatever, and we deliver checks and foodstamps to their government-provided domicile.

Nothing will concentrate these peoples minds like the prospect of homelessness and starvation.
1 reply · active 735 weeks ago
You got the bonus bonus points for nailing the point I was hinting at in a subtle way. You can take that value equation and apply it to any handout and the value of the good or service being handed out will carry the same value to the recipients as a public education does. I hope you will take this and use it, share it, and expand upon it. I think this argument has potential in winning the debate against those who support government handouts, at least with those on the fence on the issue.
Some would say I fit your list because I don't have an official full time job. However, while technically eligible for government assistance, I take none. My parents are up there in years and have a large house which will be mine one day. I have to tend to my mom quite a bit, and between that, and keeping the house orderly and doing the landscaping, I work more than than 30hrs a week. With my injuries, I could get the same free ride as so many others as my Heath issues are too erratic to hold a full time job now. So, I earn my keep and take landscape design jobs here and there. The main thing is, I am not taking taxpayer money while living in a nice house sporting a nice car and a pet leopard. Doing so would make me a royal hypocrite. As a Christian (one who studies the teachings of Christ) I grasp the value of having work in one's life. Look at how many people ruin their lives because of welfare induced boredom. Don't take this to mean that I am pushing "religion". This was, is and will be a secular blog. I often use material that I read and I've been reading lots of early Christian philosophy recently. Going in this direction has helped to respark my blogging. Thanks for reading and commenting. You and Madmath are to of my favorite readers. Getting comments from the both of you first on this has made my afternoon.
This is simple libertarian principles applied to the education issue. Logically you should be saying the same thing as you effectively express libertarian principles. The way to tell real libertarians is consistency. You are definitely consistent.
I agree with everything except with doing away with free education part. The problem is a combination of many of the teachers not caring and many of the parents not caring. First, the teachers unions need to be nipped in the bud. I just watched "Waiting for Superman" and I highly recommend it.
1 reply · active 735 weeks ago
We already pay for education as it is. We pay for it in taxes and interest to china for half the kids there to learn criminal activities and then drop out. If schools have to compete for money by privatizing, the schools will improve and simply pushing education as a status symbol will  force the people who have a Lexus and get food stamps to get their kids in good schools. As I said, for poor people, give them an incentive say $5000 in a year  to pay for any added costs they incur. For the half of kids who have no desire to attend and learn, why should the rest of us pay for them to drop out. If parents had to pay for school out of their own money, they would make sure their kids went and didn't drop out. Waiting for superman is a great story, but it's also an isolated one and in the big picture the federal school system is a massive failure. I am not suggesting we price high school like college. Competition via privitization would fix that as would local control.
Andrew,
based on the various libertarian tests, I am a medium-core libertarian. I am also conservative on many issues so I guess I'm a conservative/libertarian. Of course, hard core libertarians sneer at such appellations, but I am what I am.
1 reply · active 735 weeks ago
I am similar. I call myself a pro-liberty independent. The hardcore libertarians dance a very dangerous dance with anarchism. I am most libertarian at the federal level and believe social issues should be local. I am a firm Christian, but don't consider myself to be part of the "religious right".

Sent from my iPhone
Yes, but your quote, "I won't tread on you" is very libertarian. Wish I'd thought up that turn of phrase...
1 reply · active 735 weeks ago
We cannot claim credit for that. It is actually a special link to THL (The Humble Libertarian) who helped us take the concept of Allied Liberty News and make it into a visually pleasing site. That is his logo. I like that logo too. It also strongly represents my spiritual beliefs as well as my views on the federal government and foreign policy . I think it is the best Libertarian Logo I have seen to date. If you haven't hit THL, check it out. Wes covers the whole spectrum of libertarian views from yours which leans right (socially I would think) to others who are more socially liberal. He is really young (21 or so) and is as good a writer as you will encounter.

I bet Wes would let you put it on your blog. It accurately represents your views and is a free plug for his blog.
Well, actually, there are various people and groups I would love to tread on, depending on the time of day and what's happening in the nation and the world...
1 reply · active 734 weeks ago
We all have those moments, however Ben Franklin chose the rattlesnake because it has the following qualities: They never attack unprovoked. They never attack without warning. They eat rats, mice, and other desease carrying vermin and are also good to eat. In other words, Rattlesnakes, despite their reputation are a positive, not a negative in nature. If you don't bother the rattlesnake, it won't bother you, however you also dont want to make it angry. We are to be in society just just what the rattlesnake is in nature.
We all have such moments where we'd like to tread on those who oppose us, but the fact that we don't makes us better as a society and as people.
Wow, I have read this post like three times trying to come up with something to add, or a counterpoint or something...__can't. It's too good.
1 reply · active 734 weeks ago
Coming from you that means a lot
I agree with KOOK. Great post, Andrew
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Thanks. Again. I think we all need to focus on WHY not cutting spending will hurt the economy. We hear over and over that we need to cut budgets, but nobody really tries to explain the whys of the need to make such changes. This post was meant to lay a foundation to explain why we need spending cuts and what will happen if we don't fix this now.

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