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Public support for education is a good thing. It's good that the Government gives support through grants and subsidized loans to needier students to give everyone a fair shot. But the thing is with government funding for education is that the taxes for it are paid by everyone- including blue-collar construction workers and Wal-Mart greeters who may never need any college education in their life. I think if we are going to be using the tax dollars of those people who are already poor, they should be able to get some kind of a return on their investment.
Now it is the case that all workers do generally get benefits from education in our country- we do need people producing useful economic goods so that there are people to pay for the houses to be built and provide a market for what retailers sell. But it's not necessarily the case that the country benefits equally from the study of all the different subjects.
I studied Economic and Political Science in college. For me, those majors worked out really well and they helped me land a good job when I got out of college. But you know, it really isn't Economists or Political Scientists that help drive our economy forward. Studying those things doesn't give you the skills to do anything that we are facing a critical shortage of. Although I was lucky enough to find a job doing work that is related to what I studied in college, I think that for most people who study those things they end up doing something that isn't related to their major, and they could have just as easily studied something else. The same thing goes for other liberal arts majors such as English, Philosophy, or Sociology. There are other majors where it's really questionable how much people studying the subject helps the economy, such as Art, Theatre, Dance, etc.
The case where I think our economy really does benefit is with the study of the Hard Sciences, Math, Computer Science, Information Sciences, Engineering, as well as other technical fields. These are cases where we definitely all benefit from people studying; you're not going to deliver the next medical breakthrough if But this an area where we are in trouble:
By 2010, it's projected that 90% of the world engineers will be in Asia. China and India already producing more engineers then the USA. Meanwhile, in the USA the trend is going the wrong way, the amount of people in this country interested in studying engineering is going down. And yet it is the high tech fields which are driving our economy. With much of the traditional manufacturing jobs are already gone and more on their way out, we need new innovative technologies to drive our economy forward. It's companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sun, even companies such as Firaxis, as well as all of the biotech firms that are key to pushing our economy forward. And if we are to remain a leader in technology, so we can keep export high technology products to pay for all the Chinese crap that we buy, we are going to need more scientists, not less.
So, maybe it would be a wiser use of our tax dollars to students who study fields that really help to drive our economy forward, as well as other key fields where we currently face shortages(Such as pharmacy, nursing, education, and social work). If we took away the need-based federal aid from students who study less useful fields, we could perhaps use that money(probably along with some additional money added in to education spending) to further subsidize the students who study fields which are crucial to the future of this country.
Now it is the case that all workers do generally get benefits from education in our country- we do need people producing useful economic goods so that there are people to pay for the houses to be built and provide a market for what retailers sell. But it's not necessarily the case that the country benefits equally from the study of all the different subjects.
I studied Economic and Political Science in college. For me, those majors worked out really well and they helped me land a good job when I got out of college. But you know, it really isn't Economists or Political Scientists that help drive our economy forward. Studying those things doesn't give you the skills to do anything that we are facing a critical shortage of. Although I was lucky enough to find a job doing work that is related to what I studied in college, I think that for most people who study those things they end up doing something that isn't related to their major, and they could have just as easily studied something else. The same thing goes for other liberal arts majors such as English, Philosophy, or Sociology. There are other majors where it's really questionable how much people studying the subject helps the economy, such as Art, Theatre, Dance, etc.
The case where I think our economy really does benefit is with the study of the Hard Sciences, Math, Computer Science, Information Sciences, Engineering, as well as other technical fields. These are cases where we definitely all benefit from people studying; you're not going to deliver the next medical breakthrough if But this an area where we are in trouble:
By 2010, it's projected that 90% of the world engineers will be in Asia. China and India already producing more engineers then the USA. Meanwhile, in the USA the trend is going the wrong way, the amount of people in this country interested in studying engineering is going down. And yet it is the high tech fields which are driving our economy. With much of the traditional manufacturing jobs are already gone and more on their way out, we need new innovative technologies to drive our economy forward. It's companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Sun, even companies such as Firaxis, as well as all of the biotech firms that are key to pushing our economy forward. And if we are to remain a leader in technology, so we can keep export high technology products to pay for all the Chinese crap that we buy, we are going to need more scientists, not less.
So, maybe it would be a wiser use of our tax dollars to students who study fields that really help to drive our economy forward, as well as other key fields where we currently face shortages(Such as pharmacy, nursing, education, and social work). If we took away the need-based federal aid from students who study less useful fields, we could perhaps use that money(probably along with some additional money added in to education spending) to further subsidize the students who study fields which are crucial to the future of this country.
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