You don’t think an educated society benefits you?
this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
-16 points (38.9% liked)
Unpopular Opinion
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My uncle just moved to Florida and found out that cashiers there have zero concept of exact change. If they don't have a display telling them what to count out, they can't do it in their heads.
Was a bit of a culture shock for him.
Upvoted for an unpopular opinion but I disagree with everything you say and you sound like an entitled child yourself
Unpopular take.
The government exists to serve its citizens.
You may not specifically benefit from some programs at this very moment - shall we dismantle them?
Unemployment. Medicare. Libraries. Social security. Road / infrastructure. Low-income food/housing/assistance. Foreign aid. Fire / EMS. Diplomatic services. Police.
At any given time, most people don’t personally benefit from all of these things, but they likely use them at various points in their lives.
You went to school, didn’t you? You already got yours.
All those services exist to benefit the public, and while I don't directly benefit from some of them, I'm happy to pay for them as a member of society. Everybody needs to pitch in for society to function.
Having children is different. I'm sure every parent has their own reasons for procreation, but it's their choice to bring a child into the world because they want to. It's their responsibility to raise the child to adulthood.
Once the child is a functioning member of society and is paying taxes like the rest of us, they have every right to enjoy the same public services that I do. Until then, let the parents pay for their own decisions.
Society as a whole does not agree with this viewpoint. Let’s drive this home.
Take the US: families with children under a certain income (let’s say $75k, I don’t feel like looking up the specifics) effectively pay no federal taxes. All of their tens of thousands of dollars that would go towards the programs discussed all around this thread instead goes back to them.
Seems unfair right? Instead of parents paying their fair share and shouldering the cost of developing little people, they pay nothing!
Turns out that for government to function for the next year, it needs to plan out its budget. That’s somewhat easy.
How about government functioning in 10 years? Requires some more foresight and projection, but can probably be done with reasonable assumptions.
How about government functioning in 50 years? If we do not build in a layer of population growth, then the numbers get ugly real fast. People retire. People die. People unexpectedly die before it’s their time. With no children born to replace people, society crumbles within a generation or two at most. I think every reasonable person would see these projections and agree that if no new people join society, it ceases to exist. Even for the most selfish people, they will have no support at old age.
You may see supporting the costs of educating children as an unfair burden on everybody else. I don’t agree with that idea, but it’s your right to feel that way. Instead, I ask that you open your mind to expanding the bounds on the concept of educating kids to raising a new generation. Kids cost a shit ton more than just school. They also use medical services. They need to eat. They use public transportation. They consume free media. They do many of the things you do, but you are uncomfortable sponsoring them as we do you.
If nothing else, try to see children as the next generation of humanity. We can always make things more difficult on parents, but we as a species will suffer, and in your very lifetime.
In all seriousness... you're just a fucking idiot. Shut up.
Children deserve an education, but children also put an additional strain on society. I should not be forced to pay for someone else’s decision to procreate.
If you think education children place a burden on society, just wait until you see the burden of uneducated children on the society you live in. What you "save" personally in education expenses of other people's children you'll pay much MUCH more in costs with a declining economy and a rise in crime.
I'm not a parent either, and never will be, but I'm happy to pay to educate the future leaders of our world. Remember, they're going to be in charge when we're too old to take care of ourselves.
I thought politicians will be in charge when they're too old to take care of themselves.
"I went to school paid for by property taxes, but I don't think anybody else should because I obviously learned nothing about civics and society when I went to my property tax-funded school."
I'm not sure if it's possible to come across as more entitled, insular and anti-social than your hot take but I'm sure you'll give it the old college tries in responses here.
I did go go taxpayer-funded schools. They should have been funded by taxpayers who chose to create the children in those schools, like my parents.
How is arguing that people should pay their share entitled? There are a lot of services that everybody needs. Fire, police, roads, health care. We should all share the cost, because at some point, everyone needs those services, even if not right now.
Having children is a want, not a need. Children deserve an education, but the that should be a burden that the parents take on when they make the decision to have a child.
You went to a taxpayer-funded school. You live in a society built from the benefits of having a largely educated populace. And now you want to stop funding those benefits for the next generation.
That is practically the definition of entitled twit.
If you want to stop funding schools, fine. Stop using anything made by anybody educated in the past five generations, say. No roads, for example. Civil engineers were taxpayer-funded through their initial education after all. No medicine. Doctors and nurses again were funded by taxpayers in their initial educations. No housing. No water. No electricity. No telephony. AND FOR GOD'S SAKE GET OFF THAT COMPUTER!
You're a very, very, very limited thinker. I'd say at the very least the taxes paid for your education should be refunded since it apparently didn't take.
Having a fucking car is a WANT, not a NEED and yet you're over here masturbating the concrete snake. Take a fucking bus, you freeloading prick.
In most of the US, that simply isn't true. Without a car, you can't maintain a job. It is a need.
I don't have a car. I maintain a job. I live in Texas.
Buy a fucking bicycle and stop being a fat fuck. I'm sick of paying for your commie-ass roads, commie.
Also I think you may have missed the point.
Educated children are how you get your road workers, doctors, firefighters and librarians, services you are happy paying.
Yes, you should be forced to pay for education because it is the foundation of every facet of your civilization.
Ah the usual, everything the gov does that I can see a direct benefit for is good and right to spend taxes on.
Everything else is not something I should pay for.
Of all the things your tax money is spent on you decided schools were the problem?
What about people that don't drive? My house has never caught fire why do I have to pay for the fire department?
What an incredibly selfish fucking take
Aww, isn't that cute? Babby's first encounter with Atlas Shrugged, I take it?
I have never read it, and I have no desire to so so.
I think you shouldn't benefit from anything that's paid for by taxes.
Yes. The OP specifically should not be permitted to benefit from anything that's paid for by taxes. Fire service? My house isn't burning. Deal with your own problems using your own money!
OP needs to drive somewhere? They have to build the road!
I don't know about you, but I want doctors to exist when I get old.
I will never have children. But I want children to be properly educated so when I am eleventy-million years old and in a nursing home, some one educated can care for me.
Otherwise, we all end up in chaos living with idiots.
So who paid for your schooling?
I don't even know if this is an unpopular opinion or just an asshole opinion altogether
This is a classic situational argument. There are lots of things I don't use that my tax dollars still pay for. I can only see the long term effects of making parents pay for schools. Look how poor the average Canadian is now. If they can't afford private school, which likely most can't, then our population going forward will be less and less educated and overall less intelligent.
Children put strain on, yes, but what happens when you're a senior in your retirement home? A fellow senior going to look after you? It's important to have a strong foundation. I'd argue we are not doing enough for the younger populace. Many leave because of affordability already...
Education has one of the best returns on investment of any tax. Now should it be specifically property tax? That is arguable.
Taxes are for things that provide a social good. Education of people is one of those things, and presumably you received it already but now don't want to pay in?
You are describing children as a separate category from people, which makes no sense. All those children will, like you, grow up to be adults and will pay into the system. As adults of the past paid for you.
Why the hell is this being downvoted? Seems pretty unpopular to me.