OohPooPahDoo
Gold Member
The reason education costs are going up is precisely because of government spending in education.No, Republicans want to cut federal government spending in education by 25%. Increases in government spending over the past 40 years have done absolutely nothing to help educate the population.
In 1970 a Pell Grant would cover 70% of the cost of a college education.
Now it covers 1/3.
Why Is College So Expensive? : NPR
By you're logic, since we are paying 4 x as much for gasoline as we did 20 or so years ago, yet (given the same car) our cars don't go any further, clearly, more gasoline isn't the answer for getting further.
If that were true tuition at private Universities would be rising faster than those at public Universities - that's not the case. Adjusted for inflation, tuition at private Universities has actually not changed much in the past few decades.
Why is this the case?
Spending on public Universities at the state level has decreased Recession Pushed State and Local Higher-Ed Spending to 25-Year Low in 2010 - Government - The Chronicle of Higher Education
leaving those attending public universities with a greater share of the tab to pick up.
Offering easy money in education (these government grants) put the same upward pressure on prices as easy money in the housing market. Sallie Mae (gee, sound familiar) is the institution providing these government student loans, just as Fannie Mae providing housing loans. The parallels between education and housing are striking if you take the time to look at them. The government programs were modeled off of each other, and you get the same results: massive price inflation.
And this isn't just about college education, it is about all education, in free public schools as well. Government has been spending more and more money each year, but results are not improving. Obviously what they are doing is not working.
A) That's only true for federal spending, state and local spending trends have gone up and down depending on state and locality. And if you go to any state its inevitable that the school districts with the most revenue per student have the better schools - that's almost common sense. If you want your kid in a better public school you move to the district with more money available per student for public schools.
B) The mission of public education is not the same as private. Public education seeks to education any child without charging tuition - no matter if the child is a criminal miscreant, a severely physically or mentally handicapped person, etc. If you have a kid that needs an attendant with them at every moment of the school day - the public school has to foot the bill for that, while the private school almost always will not. If you child misbehaves in a private school, the private school can expel him and be done - the public school can only expel the kid into another public school.
My argument is precisely that more spending does not increase the quality of education.
If that is in general true, then one of the two following conclusions must be true
a) it is not possible to increase the quality of eduction
b) the highest quality education comes with zero spending on education
Which is it?
So your example actually serves to disprove your argument. However, your analogy is incorrect. Mileage is determined by engines and car design, not the gasoline. It really makes no sense actually, and even if it did it would only strengthen my case that more spending on education does not mean higher quality education, just as more spending on gasoline does not mean higher quality gasoline.
Actually all gasolines are not equal - the higher priced ones tend to have cleaning agents in them that keep your fuel injectors clean. But that's another story, and I concede, it was a poor analogy.