What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.414 Comments
- rpi22, on 04/10/2008, -7/+163Yo, which moron decided to spend $40 million on the postcard telling me that i may or may not get an economic stimulus package tax rebate and that i will have to just wait and see?!
- iiiichaos, on 04/10/2008, -19/+158Buried.. Inaccurate.. 100% of your tax money goes toward paying the interest on our massive debt.
- LloydBentsen, on 04/10/2008, -6/+82Education is paid mostly by property taxes and other local and state taxes. This article is a bad way to make a point. Although I do believe we are spending far too much on the War in Iraq.
- inactive, on 04/10/2008, -14/+59The federal government does not have the Constitutional authority to fund education. OK, well yeah the Iraq war is unconstitutional too since it was not officially declared by Congress.
Oh forget it, we haven't been living under the Constitution for the past 75 years. - woodrow8292, on 04/10/2008, -3/+37Maybe if you think education is under funded you should take it up with your state/local govt. 90% of education funding comes from the state and local sources. So when the title says 4.4% is spent on education it is because the federal govt. is only giving the states 10% of what is spent on education.
- NonLeftistDiggr, on 04/10/2008, -9/+36I've seen what California does spending 50%+ of our completely out of hand total budget (~150bil), on education, I'm not impressed... Take it from a Californian, more money doesn't necessarily help, we've proved it for many many years running now. And any "education cuts" you hear about, are almost always decreases in the rates of education spending increases. This is state greed to get more money in the hands of managers, teachers, and administrators.... no different than in the corporate world where this is so often villified on digg, except you go out of business when you can't perform.
As for the war, it's retarded, we should stop and give that money back to the people. - Snowdizzle, on 04/10/2008, -1/+25Its called the GRACE COMMISSION. Read it and weep. The CORPORATE tax goes to pay for the military. The money we pay as individuals goes straight to INTEREST. Which is ILLEGAL!!!! The government should not have to pay interest on its own money. However thanks to the criminal congress in 1913 we are in the situation we are in now.
It amazes me how many people post what they THINK instead of facts that are easily found online.
Again GRACE COMMISSION REPORT LOOK IT UP BEFORE YOU POST DUMB *****. - relic180, on 04/10/2008, -18/+42Education is already privatized. It's run by a government that's been purchased by big business, and forced to dump what little funding for education we have into dead end BS projects that are counter productive to a good education (i.e. no child left behind), which makes us better consumers because we don't let pesky things like 'critical thinking' get in the way of our spending habits.
Just because the dollars have "gone up" doesn't mean the available quality of education has also gone up. - fitqueenb, on 04/10/2008, -23/+47that is pretty sad statistic.... Got to wonder how good the education system could be if more financial investment was made, in the US and north of the border for that matter
- Wargalas, on 04/10/2008, -2/+25Here's a thought: How about parents get on their kids' ass about doing homework and achieving goals? You know, previous generations accomplished so much because their parents were on their ass about homework, so why is it any different today? Having the latest computers, internet access, and tons of cash is only going to waste money. How about we teach kids how to think for themselves instead of churning out IM/Texting idiots?
- inactive, on 04/10/2008, -3/+24In all fairness, most of your schools are funded by the state and not by the federal government. If we followed the US Constitution, 100% of education would be funded from your state capital and local property taxes, but we don't, and that's where that low % comes in. In other words, the federal government is supposed to fund the US military, or "war". I'm sure if we added up what each state spent on education, and what each local city/county government spends on education, the numbers would compare to our defense spending.
- minorthreat, on 04/10/2008, -0/+21I helped pay 40 million for post cards and I didn't even get one.
- borneo66, on 04/10/2008, -9/+30"Throwing more money at education has little documented ability to make kids more likely to go to college and so on."
Actually, I'd say the opposite is true - we have a long record of kids who go to well-funded public and private schools who have much higher graduation and college acceptance rates, and kids from poorly-funded districts who do not. Why do you think that is, the bake sales?
"Honestly it probably attracts worse teachers"
This is counterintuitive at best. If you have a higher base salary, you will end up with more people who are qualified but were turned off by the low salary to apply previously. It's not like you would suddenly get a flood of people applying for the money, and even if you did, it's not like you would have to hire them! - tj111, on 04/10/2008, -0/+19I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.
~ Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. - stix213, on 04/10/2008, -1/+19Funding for schools comes from state governments, not from the federal. Education is usually the biggest expense of any state government as well.
Buried for inaccurate. Purposely misleading is the same as lying. - rpi22, on 04/10/2008, -1/+19HA! The postcard was very confusing and it actually listed a telephone number...
- inactive, on 04/10/2008, -2/+20Our forefathers provided no funding for public education whatsoever, just fyi.
- juankovo, on 04/10/2008, -4/+22I don't hate being taxed so long as I am taxed *ONLY* to pay for things that the government is constitutionally authorized to be doing. Very little of the government's expenditures are technically legal, but we let them do it anyway. The downfall of any democracy is the ability of the citizenry to vote themselves largess from the public purse. The government, for example, spends billions of dollars on financial aid to college students. "Who would oppose that, you ask? Education is good!" ... However, public subsidies of tuition are the *primary reason* that college costs have been rising faster than the general rate of inflation. If most of the students bring $1,000 of Uncle Sam's money to the college business office, the college will raise its tuition by $900. Even if this weren't the case, it's not very ethical to force those who chose not to go to college to pay for those who do.
- ShindeKudasai, on 04/10/2008, -3/+21newsflash: the Constitution does not give the Federal government the authority to regulate education. It does, however, give allow it to maintain standing armed forces. So saying we spend more tax dollars on the military than education is like saying water is wet or the sky is blue.
- alice104, on 04/10/2008, -5/+22The Federal Government has no Constitutionally-mandated role in education, so the Department of Education should be abolished. They are brainwashing entire generations of Americans into being compliant sheep who don't question authority.
If they let Americans keep their entire paychecks, rather than stealing 20-25%, we wouldn't need all of the inept, bloated & wasteful programs they provide.
Oh, and if you disagree... just remember to raise your hand for permission to speak, or to relieve yourself.
Please read "The Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto. It's available for free online.
Oh yeah... and this war is illegal, aggressive, and a fraud. - Sharky35, on 04/10/2008, -6/+23Too bad it is complete BS...
The majority of school districts receive tax money through property taxes.
No link needed because this is common knowledge. - Buddhaismybuddy, on 04/10/2008, -8/+24But if we aint got war how we gunna be safe and stuff.
- Timetheos, on 04/10/2008, -30/+46As others have said, those that hate government are not fit to govern.
If you see government as a way to genuinly help people, you will fund those things that help people. If you hate government, you will suck it dry to the best of its ability, misappropriating funds. We see this here in this statistic, as well as with the Halliburton, Blackwater... contracts. - juankovo, on 04/10/2008, -37/+52We have *doubled* our spending on public education in the last 30 years (yes, adjusted for inflation) and our students' test scores have remained essentially flat. Throwing more money at it will NOT DO A THING. Education needs to be privatized and decisions about education need to be made locally, not federally.
- cobbwobbles, on 04/10/2008, -6/+21Education is the key to creating an empowered middle class, a stable, thoughtful society, and a balance between the classes. Think now, what has the sizable investment in war brought us? A diversion from converting to renewable energies.
- peestandingup, on 04/10/2008, -1/+15Yes, because the forefathers never intended for most Americans to be paying federal taxes in the first place. And yes, thats in the constitution. Its also in the constitution that we cant go to wars that are undeclared, but you see how far that ***** flies these days.
- DivisibleByZero, on 04/10/2008, -3/+17It's also a pretty slanted statistic given that it's only looking at federal tax money.
How much of my homeowners tax goes to the war? Hardly any? Wow, and how much of that homeowners tax goes to local schools? Damned near all of it? That's crazy talk!
I'm sure if we had individual state militias out fighting the war, those federal numbers would be a lot lower... - relic180, on 04/10/2008, -9/+22I agree completely. People don't hate being taxed (although they might scream and whine about it), they only hate being taxed for no reason. Properly allocated tax money that's used on projects and public services that have a recognizably positive impact on society are completely worth my hard earned money.
That's the point of living in modern civilization in the first place. - bldg13, on 04/10/2008, -4/+17O% should be going to education - as it is unconstitutional anyway.
- juankovo, on 04/10/2008, -3/+15Thank you for your comment. It means nothing, however. If you disagree with m2garand, please explain why. Citing the applicable portion of the Constitution would be helpful as well.
- TRScheel, on 04/10/2008, -1/+13Education money comes from local and state property tax. It's then handled locally on boards that if you really wanted to and campaigned, you (yes you, the poster) have a decent chance of actually sitting on. Please explain to the un-enlightened (AKA, me) how that is not representative government?
- Awspire, on 04/10/2008, -2/+14Maybe on the Federal level, but on the local level 70% of my property tax bill goes toward public schooling. How much more you ***** want! Dumdass's who have no idea how the system works, always get the even dumber all riled up out of sheer ignorance.
- SkittlesUSA, on 04/10/2008, -5/+16This is absurd. The Constitution does not give the government the power to pay for education, thus it is reserved for the states. The states should pay 100% for education and the federal government 0%.
- TRScheel, on 04/10/2008, -1/+12Stop confusing these people with the truth!
- RobN, on 04/10/2008, -0/+10In regards to your last sentence -- knowing a subject does NOT equate to knowing how to teach a subject. I took a college math class from a professor who normally taught several levels higher, and it was the worst class I've ever had in my life -- from someone who supposedly KNEW how to teach. He was so caught up in "and in two years, you'll use this math to do THIS!" that he didn't cover the material he was there to teach.
Granted, a certificate doesn't guarantee anyone can teach -- nor does lack of a certificate guarantee someone can't. But you need to evaluate people individually, which is what the certification process at least attempts to do (or at least that's what it's SUPPOSED to attempt to do). I guess it all depends on how your state handles teaching licenses, and what the requirements are to earn one. - AmonAmarth, on 04/10/2008, -1/+11The point is that every single dollar put into circulation has interest attached to it. How do you pay that interest? With more dollars, with more interest. When there's no gold standard, money is backed by nothing, and so this is what happens.
- inactive, on 04/10/2008, -6/+16the federal government doesn't pay for most education. most of education is left to the states. so the 4.2% for education isn't surprising, nor is it bad. what is bad is that almost half of our tax dollars go toward war.
- sanman, on 04/10/2008, -6/+16What about the other 50% going to welfare?
- loquax, on 04/10/2008, -1/+11While I agree with you, this really isn't going to hit where it needs to--in the home. The vast majority of our education problems are not the teachers or the schools (although I think they are monopolistic and problematic). The vast majority of our problems in education start and end with the parents of children in schools. While I agree that many of our students and their parents are struggling with multiple jobs, poverty, and the like, it seems to me (and I may be wrong) that the vast majority of parents in our poorly performing schools neither care about education nor do they have the wherewith-all educationally themselves to handle the challenges that their kids face.
I hate to be blunt, but poorly educated people are more likely to live in poverty and pass on to their kids a disregard for education. That is the problem's root, not the schools per se.
That being said, I think it is ridiculous that a person who has a Masters or a PhD in a subject area is prevented from teaching in many school systems because they don't have a teaching license. - kylere, on 04/10/2008, -0/+10This conflicts with the data on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal ... and I am more likely to trust it as a source of data. But, let me clarify that as a former member of the military I am against war on general principles, and against a war fought with ignorance on specific ones, and this war qualifies as both. If we had spent the money on NASA that we have spent on Iraq since 2002 we would be mining asteroids in orbit, manufacturing goods there, and producing near zero long term cost energy.
- relic180, on 04/10/2008, -0/+10Not to mention the implosion of the American economy. $100B per year ain't cheap.
- monkeybacon, on 04/10/2008, -1/+10Logic and Reason have no place on Diggbama!
- juankovo, on 04/10/2008, -2/+11I have no idea what you're trying to imply with all your hmmmmm-ing.
- inactive, on 04/10/2008, -0/+9If the general welfare clause gives the government absolute power, why bother listing all the other powers? The Constitution would have never been ratified if the founders would have known that.
We would have been a much more free and safe society if we would have just remained under the Articles of Confederation.
"Either the Constitution authorized our current tyrannical government, or is powerless to stop it"-Lysander Spooner. - forgiste, on 04/11/2008, -1/+10Actually it's parents who'd rather not raise their children and so they leave it up to the US Government...
- villageatheist, on 04/10/2008, -2/+10Similarly, "Those who seek power are not worthy of that power"
I agree with relic. In addition, the government needs to be more transparent and open with the way in which it appropriates tax money. Whenever you pay any tax, there should be information attached that tells you how that tax money is being spent. When people know that they are personally financing the purchase of weapons, mercenaries, and bribes, they might re-examine their politics. - inactive, on 04/10/2008, -0/+8and teenagers downloading songs off of limewire
THEY MUST BE PUNISHED! 10 YEARS IN PRISON! COURT ADJOURNED - Four20, on 04/10/2008, -5/+13makes you think. . .if our forefathers knew this would have happened. . .would they still have done it the same way?
- jlhoben, on 04/10/2008, -3/+11The war on education.
- MforMike, on 04/10/2008, -6/+14mebie iif moor munny wuz spennt on edumacation i kood speil moor bettur
-
Show 51 - 100 of 411 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is