The value of education in todays society

The value of education in today’s society Name Course number Instructor’s name Date Introduction The different types of schools in the U.S. offer different quality of education to students that attend. The taxpayers and individuals incur high costs to attain education and thus the need to assess its value. Any investment in education requires that one gets the expected benefits. Educated people have better quality of life as they are more likely to get better jobs, with access to medical insurance to enable them access preventative health care and are more likely to stay away from crime. These are few among the many economic and social benefits that come along with access to education. This paper seeks to unravel the economic and social value that the costly education sector has on the students in today’s society. It will outline the general education expenditure in the US and then outline the different benefits accrued for those who pursue it. The cost of education Baker did a report on 1500 private schools in the US analyzing thirty-three percent of students attending Christian Association Schools in 24 states and seventy five percent of those attending independent day schools and compared their spending to that of public schools in the same districts (2009). It indicated that the cost of education in the US public schools compared to Christian Association Schools (CAS) and Catholic schools is considerably higher. The average spending per pupil is $ 8,402 in public schools while Catholic schools and CAS spend $7,143 and $5,727 respectively. The independent and Hebrew schools’ spending is higher at $15000 and over $12000 respectively (Baker, 2009). The varying spending statistics are influenced by factors such as test scores, teacher’s undergraduate training, the ratio of teachers to pupils and the varying salaries (Baker, 2009). The public in the US have little understanding of public school expenditure. Many believe that they spend $4231 per student on average while they actually spend $10,353. This indicates their ignorance despite the fact that annual reports and financial statistics released for accountability purposes (Howell & West, 2008). There are claims that some private schools provide better education than public schools. Policies that serve to allow students to move from public schools to private schools have been proposed on the premise private school schooling is less expensive. One example of such a policy is one where using the tax credit program could be used to raise funds to provide vouchers for the children from failing private schools to attend private school. This would be at $5000 cost which is a fifty percent saving because the urban public school spending ranges from $10000 to $12000 for every child under the assumption that tuition costs stand at $4000 in Missouri (Podgursky, Brodsky, & Hauke, 2008). It is noteworthy that though the CAS schools may have lower fees and lower teacher to student ratio, their performance is comparable to public schools, which have better qualified teachers (Baker, 2009). The cost of undergraduate tuition at public and private institutions was at $13,600, $23,500 and $36,000 at public, private for profit and private not for private institutions in the 2010 to 2011 academic year. This estimates covers tuition, room and board. The price for undergraduate schooling has been increasing due to inflation and it has increased by 5 % between 2000 and 2011 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). Economic value In the US a study on the youth that are not employed or involved in education in 2012 indicated each of these youth have a $37,450 social cost which translates to a total of $4.75 trillion for all the 6.7 million of them (Thompson, 2012). The cost is equal to almost a third of America’s GDP or fifty percent of the nation’s public debt and it accumulates from spending in the public health, lost earnings among other factors (Thompson, 2012). Further, statistics indicate that on average, college graduates earn eighty percent more than high school dropouts and that when $100000 is spent in college at eighteen years old, it yields more returns than if invested in stocks or corporate bonds (Thompson, 2012). These statistics undoubtedly indicate that though the cost of education may be perceived to be expensive, the cost of not pursuing education is actually higher. It is proposed that if the government spends money to assist the close to seven million disengaged young people acquire higher education; it will be saving money indirectly. This is because the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to earn more as indicated in the figure below (Thompson, 2012).
(Thompson, 2012) The economic gains in income for people with varying levels of education are comparable. The persons who fail to complete high school education in the US earn $23, 452 less than the US’s $41,444 average wage annua...