Education: it's cheaper than ignorance

In most areas of government we happily throw money at problems. Too much traffic? Spend $700 billion on roads! Moribund manned space program? Buy a trip to Mars! Afraid of a flu pandemic? Spend $7 billion looking for a vaccine! Worried about missiles? Blow $100 billion on “Star Wars”. It's only in education where we appreciate the simpler pleasures of working harder and doing more with less.

Situationally frugal politicians often cite the failure of money to make a difference in some, consequently infamous, instances (read: Washington DC public schools). Since when did failure discredit anything in the eyes of politicians? We spend enormous amounts on the roads every year and traffic worsens every year but we still spend more every year. We simply accept that it might be even worse if we didn't. More importantly, they ignore the overwhelming majority of the cases where money is correlated with success. Of course, nothing will succeed like an involved parent or guardian. But does anyone seriously doubt that reducing the student-to-teacher ratio would help?

Even the US Chamber of Commerce, not a particularly progressive organization, is now alarmed at the state of education in the US. They'd rather continue to simply import and hire well-educated foreigners, but the Congress is threatening to limit these visas. If we hope to educate workers born in the USA, then we better do more than just test them. Maybe we should invest in our futures and put our money where our hopes are.