Oh hey again
.
To my opinion:
Money isnt the end of everything. It's a tool but it certainly doesnt make the society better.
You need all kind of people, hell not just engineers, the world would be terrible (and I have a master degree in computer sciences myself).
You need people to remind you of the past (specially with all the current hate between ethnicities...), need people to keep the society colorful and diversified, with art, with alternative visions of the world. It's just as important to evolve as a race than being able to build faster, more intelligent machines.
Free school also provides this:
Fair chance to everyone.
No matter if your family is rich of not. You won't miss a talent just because they weren't lucky in life. It IS taking a risk. There is always the risk that some of them are lazy and don't work as seriously as they could (it's a problem we have in France, actually), but the point is, if you don't ever give them a chance, you will never know. And really, doesn't it feel like the right thing to do, anyway?
I know it is a concept. So if you don't believe everyone should have the same chance in life, there's no point arguing, we basically just have to agree to disagree.
Reduce violence.
Guns isn't the answer to everything. By giving a fair chance to everyone, you basically eliminate the frustration that many teens may have by not getting the job they want, or any job at all, just because they couldn't pay for their studies. Frustrations is a precursor to violence. I don't say that it always happens because of it, but it certainly helps.
I am not giving any economical argument, because to me they don't matter, it's not a question of "optimizing the money", it's about making the society better.
People need to be less self-centered. As a European, I must say that Im still highly SHOCKED everytime I go to walmart to see almost everyone leaving their cart in the way, blocking everyone, and not giving a damn about it cause in fact, they don't even REALIZE it. That's a lack of education right there.
And no, Im not saying that european countries are perfect, Ill gladly talk about it in another thread but this isnt the topic. We're talking about education and that's something I believe they are better for.
If tomorrow I have to spend 5% of my incomes to help improving the general knowledge of my country, I will gladly do so. It won't make me homeless.