• _Mantissa@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens

    So, expensive for me who is already completely priced out of ever responsibly having children. We all have a responsibility to the future generations so I’d still vote for it. But oof. It is a tough sell to place even more tax burden on people who will never realize the benefits.

    I know it isn’t a popular opinion but wouldn’t it be cheaper and more beneficial to low income communities to invest in more robust online education? 95% of my public education was from Khan Academy and other learning services/pre-recorded material anyways, even from my amazing above-and-beyond teachers. And it was more effective than a live lecture anyways (as someone with adhd it’s a life saver to be able to rewind when I notice myself drifting away). At a certain point it gets good enough that even good teachers use it as a first pass and then focus in on problem areas/students. It seems a lot more scalable to me. Or better yet, why not both? Fewer teachers of higher quality (read:pay) handling more total students, but with a much lower percentage of students that need individual attention. We pay them like babysitters because that’s how our system is set up to utilize them. Give them the tools to be more effective and tax payers will (might) be a lot more willing to compensate them appropriately. Not to mention the benefit to students who can all move at their own pace rather than at the pace of the slowest student. It also makes remedial material easier for students with special circumstances.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I see it as part of the contract between the government and the people. All citizens are asked to help plant trees they won’t get to enjoy the shade of.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So, expensive for me who is already completely priced out of ever responsibly having children. We all have a responsibility to the future generations so I’d still vote for it. But oof. It is a tough sell to place even more tax burden on people who will never realize the benefits.

      It’s not a sell for the people who will have children. It’s a sell for the children who will grow up under that education and have their job prospects determined by it. Hey - weren’t you once a child?

      • _Mantissa@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m already on board. But I consider myself pretty strongly pro-education. I’m thinking about how to get my short-sighted countrymen on board so that we can see some real change. Education has been underfunded for the entire duration of my lifetime and I’d really like to see it improved. Unfortunately, most people don’t think the way we do and have been ignoring these arguments for decades. If they’ve already made up their mind I figure we should give them a new proposal is all. At this point I’m willing to try anything.

    • ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It is a tough sell to place even more tax burden on people who will never realize the benefits.

      But you will. We all benefit from a well-educated society. A poorly educated workforce isn’t competitive with one that is well-educated, and they attract employers with jobs that can take advantage of them. They provide the work for good-paying jobs and drive the economy we’re growing old in and hopefully retiring from someday.

      Public education benefits everyone, not just the children.

    • brcl@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I would say we need to do a full assessment of where our tax dollars are going. I feel we could find a lot of money to put towards the items that matter by cutting out government ineptitude.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You’re ignoring the massive amount of students on IEPs who require special services, as well as the fact that online education requires family support and motivation.