I was reading a document prepared by the Intelligent
Community Forum that generated an aha moment for me. The quote is:
“Education has cultural, social,
spiritual and aesthetic value, but its most tangible value is in preparing a
young person for work. Unless that young
person successfully crosses the last mile from school to work – work in a
prospering local industry that pays a living wage – the years of schooling
produce little pay off.”
The “aha” was in realizing that we, the tax payers, were the
ones being taken when youth fail to matriculate and be prosperous. We are paying for their education. We actually have a vested interest in said
education. If it is not working, we have
a right to investigate. We then should
get involved. We should admonish and
encourage youth to take advantage of it.
They are wasting our money if they do not graduate with the skills the
community needs. We should actually be incensed
when they flaunt ignorance and attitude because we have paid for a product we
are not getting.
We should also take this same attitude to the schools and
parents. What are you doing, what is not
working, what are the barriers? Why do I
feel like my tax money is going into a bottomless pit?
Let me also indicate that taxpayers also include
renters. Most renters do not consider
themselves property taxpayers, but I suspect that part of their rent includes
the taxes on the property in which they live.
Although they do not get the official tax bill they are probably paying
at least a portion of it while living in the community that is getting short
changed.
As taxpayers, we are paying twice if they fail to receive gainful
employment because our tax dollars support many of the services they will need
to survive – WIC, various social services, etc.
So as taxpayers, the outcomes are financially important to us. Do we need to stop paying? No, but we really do need to pay attention,
voice our outrage, and demand a better return on our investments than we have
been getting.
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