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We have a system like that. Its called taxes and free education. Everyone is offered free college education, including basic living expenses. In return everyone

We have a system like that. Its called taxes and free education. Everyone is offered free college education, including basic living expenses. In return everyone pays a litle more in taxes. And those who choose college, often earn more, and then pay more in taxes. (Im from Denmark)

dv_dt 9y ago
And, I would think that running the system that way is actually cheaper and more efficient than the US way where we seem to be moving towards individually accounting for every dollar of education for payback - all while the overall system spirals out of cost controls. It's much simpler to supply gov't budgets direct to public schools with oversight for spending. Vs open loans which little cost accountability. (well accountability via students for which this is the most extensive, longest term, financially complex, with highly variable ROI purchase they will have made in their life so far...)
- martin_bech 9y ago
  If you think about it, there is absolutely no reason, for education beeing expensive, if priced by actual cost (books, materiel, professors) instead of beeing priced by perceived value (ie. What will my future earnings be, what will my financing look like, are my parents paying etc.)
  - dv_dt 9y ago
    I've never thought of it exactly that way - but it makes a lot of sense. One way to summarize that idea is "cost-of-goods" public budgeting are much more efficient to run vs "value-of-education" priced student loans.
sol_remmy 9y ago
Maybe you should focus on not falling too far behind Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden first. I don't think I've ever heard of a Danish tech company. Even tiny Iceland has EVE Online.
- martin_bech 9y ago
  What a wierd comment? But Ill play along. Heard of Skype? Endomondo? Just Eat, Google V8 (the javascript engine in chrome and node.js)? And if you want games, heard of Hitman? Subway Surfers? Limbo?
- jernfrost 9y ago
  I am not Danish, but that is just super ignorant. One of the most widely used game engines, Unity3D is danish. They got several world beating companies making windmills. Creator of C++ programming language is danish. Anyway it is a poor metric, especially compared to the US, because small countries are not well suited for consumer oriented tech companies such as Facebook. The home market is too small. Small Scandinavian countries tend to have tech companies in particular niches. I am Norwegian myself and a lot of high tech here is related to the oil industry, making specialized software, hardware and instruments for it. Norway is world leader in this area, but few people outside the oil industry would know that. Another problem for small countries is due to the small home market, our tech companies usually get bought by big American multinationals. That means a lot of tech done here happens under umbrella of some American company and doesn't show up as some independent Norwegian company. Almost every single Norwegian tech company I have worked for has gotten bought out by some big American multinational. Video conferencing, secure authentication systems, 3D modeling of geology etc. It is not unique to Scandinavian countries. Israel dubbed startup nation suffers the same problem. Few tech companies ever manage to get very big before they get bought by an American multinational. It is an issue that worries government there as being a country only made up of branches is not as profitable as having tech HQs.
- Kluny 9y ago
  EVEOnline? Are you kidding? Denmark is the home of BlueTooth, ZenDesk, Skype, and a company called Danfoss which you've certainly never heard of but provided microchips and motherboards for a large percentage of the world's tractors, district heating plants, refrigeration centers, and industrial greenhouses. Denmark is a technology powerhouse with manufacturing capabilities that outrank countries a dozen times their size.

dv_dt 9y ago

And, I would think that running the system that way is actually cheaper and more efficient than the US way where we seem to be moving towards individually accounting for every dollar of education for payback - all while the overall system spirals out of cost controls. It's much simpler to supply gov't budgets direct to public schools with oversight for spending. Vs open loans which little cost accountability. (well accountability via students for which this is the most extensive, longest term, financially complex, with highly variable ROI purchase they will have made in their life so far...)

martin_bech 9y ago
If you think about it, there is absolutely no reason, for education beeing expensive, if priced by actual cost (books, materiel, professors) instead of beeing priced by perceived value (ie. What will my future earnings be, what will my financing look like, are my parents paying etc.)
- dv_dt 9y ago
  I've never thought of it exactly that way - but it makes a lot of sense. One way to summarize that idea is "cost-of-goods" public budgeting are much more efficient to run vs "value-of-education" priced student loans.

sol_remmy 9y ago

Maybe you should focus on not falling too far behind Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden first. I don't think I've ever heard of a Danish tech company. Even tiny Iceland has EVE Online.

martin_bech 9y ago
What a wierd comment? But Ill play along. Heard of Skype? Endomondo? Just Eat, Google V8 (the javascript engine in chrome and node.js)? And if you want games, heard of Hitman? Subway Surfers? Limbo?
jernfrost 9y ago
I am not Danish, but that is just super ignorant. One of the most widely used game engines, Unity3D is danish. They got several world beating companies making windmills. Creator of C++ programming language is danish. Anyway it is a poor metric, especially compared to the US, because small countries are not well suited for consumer oriented tech companies such as Facebook. The home market is too small. Small Scandinavian countries tend to have tech companies in particular niches. I am Norwegian myself and a lot of high tech here is related to the oil industry, making specialized software, hardware and instruments for it. Norway is world leader in this area, but few people outside the oil industry would know that. Another problem for small countries is due to the small home market, our tech companies usually get bought by big American multinationals. That means a lot of tech done here happens under umbrella of some American company and doesn't show up as some independent Norwegian company. Almost every single Norwegian tech company I have worked for has gotten bought out by some big American multinational. Video conferencing, secure authentication systems, 3D modeling of geology etc. It is not unique to Scandinavian countries. Israel dubbed startup nation suffers the same problem. Few tech companies ever manage to get very big before they get bought by an American multinational. It is an issue that worries government there as being a country only made up of branches is not as profitable as having tech HQs.
Kluny 9y ago
EVEOnline? Are you kidding? Denmark is the home of BlueTooth, ZenDesk, Skype, and a company called Danfoss which you've certainly never heard of but provided microchips and motherboards for a large percentage of the world's tractors, district heating plants, refrigeration centers, and industrial greenhouses. Denmark is a technology powerhouse with manufacturing capabilities that outrank countries a dozen times their size.