Notes About Your Author and His Intellectual Support for Public Funding of Higher Education Tuition

I just thought I would follow up my previous post with my basic philosophy on education.

Learning multiple disciplines has been one of the great joys of my life.  I have a degree in economics, but I also have minors in math, physics, and Asian studies.  I also have had the chance to study multiple languages during my study abroad experiences in Japan and South Korea.

All of the aforementioned learning chances came my way because I went to college and made the most of it.  These opportunities have made me a better person by training me to think logically, instilling in me a sense of civic duty, and increasing my interest in world affairs.  Essentially, I am a better American because I made the decision to go to college.

And that is why I believe college should be heavily subsidized by government entities: good education turns Americans into better Americans.  Society in general benefits from having an educated workforce (not just professionally, but also in terms of general citizenship).  The government benefits in terms of educating its citizens because educated people tend to be more productive in the economy and more active in politics.  The more active in politics people become, the more likely that political outcomes will be more balanced and wise for society at large.  And the better political outcomes are, the less necessary it will be to tinker with governmental systems.

To those of you out there who think the USA can't afford to heavily subsidize our universities, I say "poppycock".  Between all levels of government, the USA spends about $6 trillion annually (that is about 40% of GDP).  Australia, which has a reasonably-subsidized higher education system, has a government that spends about $354 billion out of $1.2 trillion; that means 32% of Australia's GDP comes from government spending (much less than in the USA).  And, yet, the Aussies still have enough money to help citizens pay for college*, basic health care, and a respectable military.

This information makes me ask: what is wrong with us for tolerating our government's negligence?



*I should note the average Aussie does graduate with about $17,000 of debt (which is still considerably less than Americans' $25,000 in student debt) but he or she can count on getting a much higher starting salary than an American; so, Aussies have a much better chance of paying of their student debt faster.