Interesting how you think we should have universal health care but think poor people should pay more for education...
I was a poor kid, and I am tremendously grateful that I live in America, where every kid has the opportunity for a no-direct-cost basic education. I knew in high school that this was the very best thing for me.
However, as a teacher today, I think families should have to pay for a couple things in the public school system -- and these are things you wouldn't see unless you're "in the system":
- I don't think we, the public, should pay for kids to repeat classes. When I was a new teacher I taught a 9th grade basic core class, and we had a small percentage of kids who just didn't do anything -- so they ended up repeating the class. The worst I saw was a kid who repeated the class
five times. He didn't attend, behaved badly and was suspended frequently, and just did no work. He flip-flopped among three teachers, and his work ethic didn't vary. He told us things like "You're not allowed to fail me because I've already failed this class once" ... "This is my third time in this class, I pass no matter what" ... "Everyone automatically passes summer school". Yeah,
uh, no. Admittedly, few kids do this, but I don't think students of this caliber should be allowed to repeatedly take seats in the same class
year after year. Mr. 9th-grade Remedial Math Five Times was extreme, but I've known too many kids who sit through the same class three times -- and we're not talking about AP Physics. I think the public should pay for kids' basic education, but if they throw away Chance #1, the student /family should bear the cost of repeating the class.
- Textbooks are expensive (high school books are typically $75-125/copy), and kids who "hoard them" should have to pay. I teach seniors, and this is a common situation: For whatever reason, the student doesn't turn in any of his freshman books, forgets his sophomore Geometry book and Spanish book, doesn't turn in his Chemistry book and English book as a junior. So the kid has literally a thousand dollars worth of school-owned textbooks shoved under his bed, and he's just being lazy and isn't digging them out. We keep records of what he hasn't turned in, and we ask for the books every year -- but we
can't push the issue 'til he's a senior. When he's a second semester senior, he finally realizes, he is not going to be able to attend graduation unless he pays the $1000 or so he owes in missing books. So his mom finally gets upset, makes him crawl under the bed or dig through the closet ... he brings the books into school (or maybe mom does), and his record is wiped clean. However, we have not had use of those books for several years! In the meantime, we've been forced to spend our limited resources to replace books ... all because he just didn't care until push came to shove. Students who don't turn books in on time should have to pay for them.
Related subject: Two of my teacher-friends work at a nearby college's bookstore "seasonally" (meaning they work the first /last couple weeks of the college semester helping with textbooks. They say that only about 1/3 of the students who rent books manage to return them on time ... so their (or their parents') credit card is automatically charged full price for the books.
Anyway, I strongly believe in providing a no-direct-cost education to every child, but I also think that people should bear financial responsibility for their own irresponsibility.