Abolish children.

100% guaranteed to eliminate every single problem associated with the state of modern education.


Grow them in Borg maturation chambers, gradually downloading the totality of human knowledge into their brains, then release them into temporary, supervised living after they reach physical maturity.

No more bitching about the cost or effectiveness of public education, no more supporting the children of weasely parasites who can't take responsibility for their own, and no more over the presence/absence of religious themes in the curriculum.

Retro abortions! Starting with UA!

Think how popular the Widow Albert would be then!

If Mrs A hasn't tried the April Fool's "I'm preggers" stunt yet I have to wonder what she's waiting for.

M'kay.

I'm looking forward to seeing the design of the Borg maturation chambers and the neural net interfaces.

(just pointing out the flaws in your plan here - it's easier said than done, you see)

I have a request, though - people without children ought to be exempt from school taxes.

That should be the case no matter what else happens.

I should be paid shitloads of cash to raise everyone else's children. After all, my track record is 100%

So you won't accept any services whatsoever from those children when they leave school? Have fun in the retirement home when the only people helping you are your age or older...

Yes, that is a rather idiotic idea.

As if you don't benefit from the use of an educated populace.

Mrs A must be hinting around again for teh babies.

I'm not going to go out like Junior Soprano.

I'm planning to go out like Tony Montana.

And as if most people don't have kids at some point in their lives, even if they don't have them right now.

But even more importantly: as if anything other than total taxes paid and total services received matters to anyone's pocketbook. The tax code doesn't need more laws that require inane and inefficient accounting gimmicks built into the budget, resulting in higher taxes overall.

Hmmm... I've paid shitloads of cash for state education...
I paid for daughter's education privately...
It's quite a few years since she left school.
I ain't complaining. I believe I've mentioned the concept of 'enlightened self-interest' on several previous occasions...

Nope. It wasn't me this time. Maybe someone brought a screaming kid into work or something.

Evidently UA has not seen the movie children of men.

You know, I think you've really hit upon something here!

I've never made use of the criminal justice system. I am neither a criminal nor a crime victim. Why am I paying for prosecutors and prisons?

I've never been blown-up by an IED. Why am I paying for a war in Iraq?

I rarely drive on the interstate highway system. Yet damn it, I'm paying for that, too!

I have no problem with this conclusion.

Ah, but you do. You've many times listed police and defence as items reasonably funded by taxation. I disagree -- I don't use these services, forcing me to pay is theft.

I'm picturing UA instead of Arnold as the lead in that movie Junior. Well, maybe not.

That line never gets old, no matter how many times it's refuted. It sounds plausible, and makes the speaker feel intelligent and enlightened, but under scrutiny it's just another facade for "compassionate" socialism.

Tell me, am I guaranteed a benefit in proportion to the cost of educating each individual child? Can I expect a refund from the parents every child who grows into a social burden and/or criminal? Right.

And as for those "benefits of an educated populace" I do enjoy, why are we paying for them again at the time of receipt if I supposedly purchased those benefits when I paid for their public education? Should we stop paying bills to teachers, accountants, lawyers, and doctors because we already made our contribution early in their lives? Of course not. Those people want compensation directly in exchange for the services with which they provide me. Paying my doctor bill satisfies any obligation I have towards that doctor's education.

It's much like how the price you pay for fruits and veggies is influenced by how many bad apples there are. You never get 100% net goodness out of anything.

Because these people still need to eat, of course. Not to mention you're also paying for the resources used in the service of your needs.

But they couldn't get to the point where they could help you if they were not educated beforehand. So it is, in a sense, an investment, one the vast majority of Americans are willing to make.

If you aren't...well, then, write your congressman Get on a pulpit, preach the word.

Failing that, try inciting revolution.

If your points are well-articulated and well-reasoned, you should be able to enact full-scale change without much trouble.

Why do I think there's an element of real sincerity in the opening post?



Cue neg rep...

Heck. I wanna go out like Joe Montana.

More smug bullshit and invalid comparisons.

If nothing else, the constant deterrant value of law enforcement and military justify the personal cost to the individual. Furthermore, you and I benefit from the capture and incarceration of a violent criminal. Even if he never got around to attacking us personally. There is absolutely no guaranteed personal benefit, directly or indirectly, to being forced to educate a stranger's child. The old "educate them or they'll grow into thieves and muggers" line is just extortion in social engineering clothing, not moral justification.

Nothing about this justifies the Iraq invasion, however. That is of no direct benefit to me or most Americans whatsoever.

I'll get behind a usage fee system if you will.

Alternately, even using it once a year is more benefit than you can expect from some of the "educated" brats out there.

You can't make an accurate accounting, Albert, that's the point. You have to either accept that we get a net benefit or we don't. If you like one thing but not the other, you can't arbitrarily say that only one thing deserves tax payer support. All tax payers should receive a net benefit, but any individual taxpayer is going to find things he doesn't much like.

You're both more likely to go out like Hannah Montana!

But if I set out to buy an apple, there is at least some assurance that I'll get a fucking apple, isn't there?

Their need for the money is irrelevant. All that matters on my end is what I receive in exchange for my payment. When buying goods and services directly, that connection is clear. With public education, not so much.

If that were the case, contributing to the cause would not need to be mandatory, now would it?

Bock's daughter disagrees that that's a bad thing...

edit - to Nautica

And there's plenty of assurance that many students educated in public schools go on to be meaningful contributors to society.

Their need for money is not irrellevant, obviously. If they can't support themselves, their services aren't availible to you. There's more at stake than WHAT you receive. There's also the assurance that it'll still be there when you need it again.
And you have as much direct connection with the benefits of public education as you do for any other public service.

Of course we do, cause otherwise people like you wouldn't put in your fair share, and would try to justify that with silly arguments about not seeing the benefit of an educated populace.

Then no argument in defense of tax-funded education can be made on the basis of the benefit I receive.

I pay directly for any real (read: not merely symbolic) benefits I receive, making that a wholly seperate topic from who is responsible for the education of children. I say that responsibility lies with the parents, and if they succeed and their child grows into a valuable, contributing member of society, I'll gladly pay that child for his/her services. What I cannot agree with on principle, however, is that I owe something further, based on nebulous and mostly unnaccountable cost/benefit connections, that I should be expected to willingly risk with no guarentees whatsoever.

Insanely broad generalization. Your comparison to tangible government services where the direct benefits can be more consistently identified simply is not going to fly. Paying a cop ensures that he will at least do something, or he will be removed from the payroll. Not at all similar to public education.

An educated populous is a necessity in modern society. Abolish mandatory education, and we'll have so many dumbshits that they'll be taking the jobs away from the illegal immigrants!