That kind of opportunity is there for teachers already. I forget the details, but if they agree to work in underserved schools for a period of time they can get tremendous help with their education.
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It is indeed.
“The official four-year graduation rate for students attending public colleges and universities is 33.3%. The six-year rate is 57.6%. At private colleges and universities, the four-year graduation rate is 52.8%, and 65.4% earn a degree in six years.”
And these are colleges people are paying to attend.
What do you suppose the graduation rate will drop to when the students have no skin in the game?
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Ask the employers who require a four year degree to be a filing clerk. You know the ones. The same ones who think since they went to college and college “teaches people how to think” everyone should go to college and they aren’t willing to hire anyone who didn’t because they’re just stupid, lazy, or simply not good enough.
There’s zero evidence to support such a contention and what it would actually accomplish is putting a huge burden on kids from middle income homes who will end up paying for the education of the poor.
No, I don’t know the ones.
Bingo! The poor already get help via Pell Grants but some want the middle class to pay it all for them.
I already paid the tuition for my 3 why should i have to pay the way for the poor so it is all free to them as well???
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Because: society!
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Of course. 
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In the 1600s the world had agrarian economies. You could do very well for yourself with nothing more than an elementary education, and for many not even that. You could make a nice living and be illiterate.
The industrial revolution changed things, though. We needed a more literate workforce and for the first time, a HS education was provided to all to meet the demands of the economy.
We are now post-industrial, a service economy, and that demands an even higher level of education or training.
That is why now.
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We are now post-industrial, a service economy,
A nation of waiters?
Why do waiters need a higher level of education? Training has nothing to do with college.
You’re wrong. College is necessary because the lib education complex has made high school yesterday’s 6th grade.
And now you want to aid 4 years to a failed system.
No.
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We are not a nation of waiters, Sneaky. A service economy deals with IT, with accounting, with financial services. Basically, you are providing service and not a tangible product for the majority of your national GDP.
The more advanced an economy is, the more it become service and the less it becomes agrarian or, later on, manufacturing.
We are well suited to a manufacturing or industrial economy but we are beyond that now, that is where India, Indonesia or Bangladesh is. China borders service and manufacturing. Japan, the UK, the US are all service economies.
And we are not just talking college, I have been explicit in that. Training is pivotal as well, such as trade schools. HS has to cover the basics more than it does, there is no need to take English in college unless you fail some basic testing. There is no need for Calculus unless you are going into physics or some such field. There is so much filler in college and its all to pad the University’s pockets.
Targeted studies to aid the student in finding a career in their area of interest and abilities are important to provide though. And you can get that money back with increased income leading to higher tax revenue. I would also favor some sort of community service for all younger people, like they do in Germany.
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Where are you getting this concept of “progress”?
So Panama?
To whom are we providing these “services”?
To each other, to other countries, etc.
If you’re honestly interested in this topic, I hope there are some folks here with a stronger background in macroeconomic theory who can chime in and explain things better than I can.
My background is in Medicine. So I am doing my best here but perhaps I am not explaining things well.
To each other? That doesn’t make sense. Somebody has to make something.
I know it probably wouldn’t work on a wide scale but years ago certain occupations such as over the road trucking companies would pay for a persons training and education sending them off to driving school in exchange for that employee signing with them exclusively for a number of years.
I think that might be one way to address the rising cost of public education. Maybe not to the large degree that it needs, but less kids wasting time on a degree they arent going to use, and more time spent working on an education they will immediately use may be helpful. Just an idea though.
Not entirely service, but dominantly service. Even a service economy country grows produce and makes cars. But they also do the banking, run IT, produce advertising and such. That is where you need education.
I think the sweet spot is minimal regulation. Schools should adhere to government’s expectations, but just enough so that they earn accreditation. This will allow breathing room for some creativity.
In regards to the cost of education, we have to know the source of the problem before we fix the problem. A lot of the costs come from administrative costs and financial aid. The higher-ups in education are getting pay raises, and little of it is going to the people who are doing the actual teaching- thus, no one wants to teach and you get a shortage of teachers. Kids’ education gets worse and worse, and it turns out about as expected.
Now with college, you have degree programs. All of these programs cost money to run. Equipment, professors to teach the class, enrollment costs, etc. This is a pretty big cost, in addition to utilities, amenities, and luxuries for the students and faculty. Many students will drop out, many will stay, some will graduate- but if you don’t have enough students enrolling for the next semester, then the financial costs for everyone else goes up. I think this is especially true for students who recieve a generous amount of financial aid, and decide that college isn’t for them, and they drop out. Where does that money that was allotted to that student go?
Maybe the solution to this is to do what many cities are doing- a “college sampler.” In other words, two years of education on tax dime, and if they stay in school, the person has to pay for the remaining two years, or however many years are left in their schooling. It lessens the burden to the student, and there is less probability that money will go to waste. My city has a program like this, and it has worked out well, given that many of the students go into trade-like majors, and contribute back to the economy.
Let me know what you guys think. It’s different than my usual view of things politically, but I think it would satisfy both sides of the issue.
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Because costs are going up dramatically, due to a variety of reasons. Education was cheaper back then, because the dollar had more value.
