4 ms·

What would happen if the US invested as much in education as it did in military?

_qulr 6y ago
Well, it's possible that South Korea would be under the rule of Kim Jong-un right now. ;-)
xapata 6y ago
So long as our fiction keeps us imagining ourselves as secretly royalty, we'll prefer dynasties to democracy. (And thus we prefer military.)
harryh 6y ago
The US invests more in education than it does in the military. In 2019 the US spent roughly 720 billion on the military. Public spending on elementary and secondary (high schools) was about 740 billion. That doesn't count all spending on public colleges or any spending on private schools both of which are substantial.
- kasey_junk 6y ago
  That’s a pretty unfair comparison given you are comparing Department of Defense federal discretionary dollars to _all estimated expenses at all levels of government_. Even if you just add the VA into the mix your numbers come out upside down. Add any segment of Homeland security and it gets really obvious fast.
  - harryh 6y ago
    The VA budget is ~200B/yr right? Maybe a bit more? Homeland Security is ~50B? If we include all of both of those (and I would contend that "all" isn't really appropriate if we're just talking about the "military") we're around a trillion or so on the military. Let's take the 740B on government spending on primary + secondary education and add the 175B or so spent by various levels of governments on college. That gets you to 915B. Is there 100B of private spending a year on education? I'm willing to bet there is. At the end of the day, the numbers are probably pretty close. My overall point is that there is this idea that US military spending dwarfs US education spending. However you do the math, this is clearly not the case.
simonsarris 6y ago
Investment per se is not the reason the US does not have enough good schools. The US spends more on K-12 education than almost any nation, including South Korea. The reasons are more complicated and (probably) far less politically pleasing. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp
foogazi 6y ago
People forget that a military is one of the few legitimate reasons for a state to exist

Well, it's possible that South Korea would be under the rule of Kim Jong-un right now. ;-)

So long as our fiction keeps us imagining ourselves as secretly royalty, we'll prefer dynasties to democracy. (And thus we prefer military.)

harryh 6y ago

The US invests more in education than it does in the military. In 2019 the US spent roughly 720 billion on the military. Public spending on elementary and secondary (high schools) was about 740 billion. That doesn't count all spending on public colleges or any spending on private schools both of which are substantial.

kasey_junk 6y ago
That’s a pretty unfair comparison given you are comparing Department of Defense federal discretionary dollars to _all estimated expenses at all levels of government_. Even if you just add the VA into the mix your numbers come out upside down. Add any segment of Homeland security and it gets really obvious fast.
- harryh 6y ago
  The VA budget is ~200B/yr right? Maybe a bit more? Homeland Security is ~50B? If we include all of both of those (and I would contend that "all" isn't really appropriate if we're just talking about the "military") we're around a trillion or so on the military. Let's take the 740B on government spending on primary + secondary education and add the 175B or so spent by various levels of governments on college. That gets you to 915B. Is there 100B of private spending a year on education? I'm willing to bet there is. At the end of the day, the numbers are probably pretty close. My overall point is that there is this idea that US military spending dwarfs US education spending. However you do the math, this is clearly not the case.

simonsarris 6y ago

Investment per se is not the reason the US does not have enough good schools. The US spends more on K-12 education than almost any nation, including South Korea. The reasons are more complicated and (probably) far less politically pleasing. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

foogazi 6y ago

People forget that a military is one of the few legitimate reasons for a state to exist