American Education System - An Economic Model

As a kick start to EduTeaParty, I want to pull an older idea that I have tossed around often: the American education system is simply an economic model and is not truly invested in educating but is instead interested in utilize capitalism to invest and gain interest on said investment. That's a lot, I know, so let me try to break it down.

K-12 education is free... well somewhat. K-12 education is free to the student but funded through American tax dollars. This is known as the investment.

Higher Education is not free. Higher Education (including Technical Education) carries with it the cost to the student. This is known as the return on the investment.

Here's where capitalism comes into play: K-12 education is organized and built where it is sufficient but not adequate. This is intentional such that students will leave K-12 with enough information and skills to be functional members of society such that they can be hired and begin investing in the system via taxes. These graduates, while being prompted that all should go to college, are not equipped (in large part) to be overly successful in higher education. Additionally, these graduates - by design - will not qualify for complete scholarships thus necessitating the need for federal loans which are a major part of the return on the K-12 education investment.

In short, students will return on the economic investment of their K-12 journey via taxes earned through employment and purchases, AND via federally supported loans that carry with them a return rate in excess of the loan amount. See the cycle?

So for all the "no child left behind" and "everyone goes to college" and "race to the top" mentalities, these - to me - stand merely as disguises for the economic investment-return-on-investment model of education. If we are truly invested in teaching our scholars, we must be honest about this model, face it, and change it.