Heres a post I found on the NYtimes comments page. You can never be sure about the reliability of such posts, but these figures dont sound surprising to me, and show that we have screwed up education funding as badly as we have screwed up health care: Article at U of Minn site for 2010: “The U.S. had the highest education cost in 2010 at $13,856....Finland’s education cost came in second at $1,243... Germany ($933), Sweden ($600) and Norway ($596). The average American student spent more than $1,000 on textbooks and supplies in 2010 alone. For $400 less, Norwegian and Swedish students got one year’s worth of a college education. But how is this possible?....because many European countries have eliminated tuition fees or have placed a maximum cap on how much universities are allowed to charge annually. For instance, German universities are only allowed to charge a maximum of 1,000 euros annually — if they charge at all.” Its like our mantra of the best health care in the world. But millions can’t afford doctors. Some of our higher ed is excellent, but most can’t afford it. The ever wealthier elite is making up an ever larger share of our educated class. This reverses the previous generation’s trends which were to expand education and cultivate latent talent. The resulting explosion of business, progress and prosperity made the US unique. Why the reversal? Elsewhere they accept some regulation for the common good. Everything doesn’t have to be a profit center to prove they have a free capitalist system. Here regulation of profits for crucial services that millions need is easily opposed by labels of socialistic govt intrusion. Big money in election campaigns seals the deal. These are the needed comparisons.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:54:41 +0000
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