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I'm not going to claim that undergraduate education in the US is perfect or anything, but we do have a world class education system which rivals or bests all ot

I'm not going to claim that undergraduate education in the US is perfect or anything, but we do have a world class education system which rivals or bests all other nations'. And on top of that, i would say that my publicly subsidized education was just as good if not better than many private educational experiences, and it was a whole hell of a lot cheaper. And i grew up in a city with one of the best public library systems in the country. You'll still notice that it was populated with plenty of Barnes & Nobels and Borders book stores. Oh, and i'll note that the Ambassador Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge and basically any bridge in and out of Ontario to the US are privately owned toll bridges, which charge you to travel over them. [edited to remove pointless but cathartic ad hominem]

jerf 16y ago
We're in the late phase of step 8 for undergraduate education. Let me know in 10 years if you still think everything's peachy with it. The signs of strain are already there if you know where to look, but I'm pretty sure by 2020 you won't be able to pretend otherwise. Probably by 2015. Possibly by this time next year. (Personally I'm thinking that barring a major economic turnaround we see a distinct drop in college enrollment next year.) You also don't know which is cheaper, public education or private. You know that in a government-subsidized environment, public was cheaper to you than private, but what a freaking surprise, when you pay for public school whether you attend or not, then must pay for the private school on top of that. Of course X + Y > X... but school's only free if you never pay local taxes.
- stretchwithme 16y ago
  The government is very adept at pointing out what handouts people are getting and hiding how much its actually costing them. And it seems to work on plenty of people.
stretchwithme 16y ago
Libraries and bookstores are different things. You may not see many private lending libraries outside of universities where there are public ones, but they used to flourish.

jerf 16y ago

We're in the late phase of step 8 for undergraduate education. Let me know in 10 years if you still think everything's peachy with it. The signs of strain are already there if you know where to look, but I'm pretty sure by 2020 you won't be able to pretend otherwise. Probably by 2015. Possibly by this time next year. (Personally I'm thinking that barring a major economic turnaround we see a distinct drop in college enrollment next year.) You also don't know which is cheaper, public education or private. You know that in a government-subsidized environment, public was cheaper to you than private, but what a freaking surprise, when you pay for public school whether you attend or not, then must pay for the private school on top of that. Of course X + Y > X... but school's only free if you never pay local taxes.

stretchwithme 16y ago
The government is very adept at pointing out what handouts people are getting and hiding how much its actually costing them. And it seems to work on plenty of people.

stretchwithme 16y ago

Libraries and bookstores are different things. You may not see many private lending libraries outside of universities where there are public ones, but they used to flourish.