Re: Reforming Education

Cynthia (cyn386@flash.net)
Mon, 11 Oct 1999 14:10:56 -0700

"Michael S. Lorrey" wrote:

> > Of course not. There is nowhere you can buy a good education. The
> demand can
> > only make itself known when someone brings 'good' education to the
> market place.
>
> I had an idea for formalizing the old bit about how debts to parents
> cannot be paid back, they must be paid forward. Say your parents pay for
> your education. They formalize this as a loan to you, with interest
> equal to the rate of inflation of the cost of education. You can't pay
> it back to them, but every cent you pay in your children's education is
> deducted from that debt. Thus the individual is given a real incentive
> (to their credit record) to pay for the ducation of their children.
> Comments?

This would address the problem of people not being willing to pay enough for our children's education. But that is not a real problem. As it is, it is a really bad investment to educate our children. Our children would be financially better off if we stuck the money into a trust account for them, instead of spending it on education.

Our current system of education is too expensive, it encourages crime and other social pathologies, and it is a total failure at making children smarter. As it stands the best thing people can do for their children is to make sure they start life with a good set of genes.