Subject:
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Re: And now for something completely different...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 5 Mar 2003 17:48:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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453 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> But public education money doesn't seem to actually deliver education.
My understanding, which I'm happy to modify if presented with contrary
evidence, is that much of the spending allotted for public schools has not
gone toward "education" per se, but has instead been used to support lunch
programs for low income families, transportation programs, special education
and enhanced access facilities for physically or mentally challenged
students, and that sort of thing. The money hasn't (nor should it be, IMO)
offered solely as a boost to education itself, but it has allowed the
creation and support of programs enabling access to education to students
who otherwise wouldn't have had it.
One can debate whether these children are entitled to subsidized
education, but that's a separate discussion.
> However I will point out since we're talking ratios, that every dollar spent
> on space so far has returned LOTS more than 9...
For my part, I believe that space exploration is an entirely worthy
pursuit in its own right and needn't be justified in dollars and cents. But
I'd be interested to see some discussion of the profit ratio you mention.
It's all well and good that we have Teflon frying pans, but do we need a
zillion-dollar space program to design a skillet? If we're going to argue
the "it's worth the cost" angle, we need to address whether or not those
same results could have been achieved for the same (or less) money on Earth
without bothering to go into space at all.
> and that's with launching every pound from earth instead of using lunar and
> asteroidal/cometary materials.
Currently, of course, the cost of mining the asteroid belt efficiently
would probably exceed the cost to date of the entire world's aggregate space
program, but it's good to have a goal.
Dave!
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