At 05:14 28-7-01 -0500, Ronn Blankenship wrote:
>>Here, you go to "Group 1" (your "1st grade") when you're 4 years old, and
>>go to school 5 days per week till you're 17. This education is mandatory,
>>and free.
>
>
>Where doe the money for teachers, buildings, books, etc. come from?
From Income Taxes.
The word "free" in this context means that neither the child nor the
parents are billed for letting the child go to school; the Dept. of
Education pays the bill. Schools usually do ask parents to pay a small
contribution in the costs of running the school, but payment of this is
strictly voluntary.
You see, over here we believe that getting basic education is too important
to let money (or lack of it) get in the way. By letting everyone pay for it
through Income Taxes, *all* our children can go to school; otherwise, the
children of poor families wouldn't be able to get even a basic education.
How do you handle it in the US? Let parents pay the bill themselves? Then
what do you do with children whose parents can't afford it? Tell those
kids: "tough luck for you, but it isn't our fault that you weren't born
into a rich family, so you'll just have to do without even basic education"?
Jeroen
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