Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

You're right, more money doesn't necessarily make good schools. It's obvious we have a societal problem in our country. Education is not valued as much as it used to be, teachers are not respected as much as they used to be. People want the easy way out. Also, kids are so busy these days school is sometimes seen as just one of many activities, and not necessarily the most important. Our idols are athletes, musicians, actors and not intellectuals. One only has to look to Japan to see how seriously education is taken over there. That being said, I feel as though education is underfunded by the government. It has nothing to do with teacher salaries. It has more to do with levels of technology that is available as well as programs etc.. Maybe it is true more is being spent on education but it is still lacking in my opinion...Chris J
 

I question where you got the "even though the amount of money spent has gone through the roof in the last twenty years."...obviously we're spending more, but what about the percentage of the federal budget? But I do agree with your main point. A stable family that cares about their kids and that imparts sort of discipline is very, very important,. One thing I forgot to mention that is poison for the intellectual health of our country is television and video games. They are destroying the reading and writing skills of children, plus contributing to weight problems. People need to shut off their damned TVs, read a book or go outside and exercise.-- Chris J.
 

To be honest, I would have to look that info up. A better stat would be % of GDP. Also, we would have to take local spending into account, because education has traditionally been a local responsibility, not a state or federal responsibility.

Regardless, I'm pretty confident spending is up considerably. I'm curious where the money went to. Teachers aren't driving fancy cars.