And I want a Pony

On Thursday students, parents and faculty across the nation marched to protest cuts to public education funding and increasing tuition.  In one report I heard of students who handed a letter to the system chancelor demanding increased class sections, decreased class size, more faculty, decreased tuition, and no new taxes.  What I can't understand is that no one asked for a pony too.

Our society in general has reached a point were we act like children who have no conception of the cost of things, and that if we individually don't pay someone else is going to have to.  It doesn't make a difference if we talk about health care, education, or infrastructure, we refuse to admit that if we want something it will cost us to get it and to get something of quality.  I certainly feel that we as a society should be investing in our future wellbeing by investing in education.  At the same time, we must acknowledge how pays.

On a similar vein, the University of California system recently did a survey of their undergraduate students and discovered that the students in the physical sciences spent an average of 15.1 hours per week on out-of-class academic work.  This means that they are spending one hourSomehow this does not discourage my students from complaining that my course it too much work.  Again, one must wonder about our willingness to invest in our individual or societal future.

Any argument for education funding, health care funding or any other public funding becomes a false argument when the individual making the argument suggests that they individually should give no more, but should get more.  If we can't come up with better arguments we shouldn't be arguing at all.

T.S. Hall