Americans believe the United States is the greatest country in the world. Thirty years ago, they would all be correct; however, the truth is that the United States is slipping down the list and education plays a significant role in the reason why. While the country maintains an extremely high secondary school graduation rate compared to other nations, the lack of tertiary education is affecting the nation across the board. The economy is stalling, citizens are dependent on government welfare programs, and the incarcerated population rivals that of entire countries. Making tertiary education affordable and accessible to more people is not only a necessity, but also a responsibility in order to set the United States back on a path toward greatness.
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One in one hundred ten adults are incarcerated in the United States. That is approximately twenty percent of the world’s prison population. Educating more people will not completely solve this crisis, but it will go a long way in slowing the growth and even reducing this statistic. It is a fact that individuals with higher levels of education and higher wage jobs commit fewer crimes. For one, they have less idle time to evaluate a target and conjure up a plan. They also have less motivation and significantly more to lose by committing a crime. Employees of higher wage jobs also have much less of a need for what can be gained from petty criminal …show more content…
The truth is, yes it would be costly, but only until the newly educated population took their places in the workforce. “The government spends approximately one trillion dollars on social welfare programs annually” (Sessions), but once the beneficiaries of these programs not only stop receiving benefits, but also start paying taxes the government will have to spend less and even be taking in more. Welfare programs were not designed to sustain families for their lifetimes, and by offering individuals the opportunity to become successful the cost of educating these groups would become significantly less as time went on. Another possibility for reducing the cost of education is attaching a service requirement to a tuition payment. This policy has already been polled and, “approximately eighty-seven percent of those polled showed a least some support” (Levine 643). This type of service requirement would save the government millions of dollars by reducing the cost of outsourcing general labor services. Requiring recipients of free education programs to volunteer their time is also a means to instilling values in these citizens that change the path of their lives. President Obama said in his commencement address at
One in one hundred ten adults are incarcerated in the United States. That is approximately twenty percent of the world’s prison population. Educating more people will not completely solve this crisis, but it will go a long way in slowing the growth and even reducing this statistic. It is a fact that individuals with higher levels of education and higher wage jobs commit fewer crimes. For one, they have less idle time to evaluate a target and conjure up a plan. They also have less motivation and significantly more to lose by committing a crime. Employees of higher wage jobs also have much less of a need for what can be gained from petty criminal …show more content…
The truth is, yes it would be costly, but only until the newly educated population took their places in the workforce. “The government spends approximately one trillion dollars on social welfare programs annually” (Sessions), but once the beneficiaries of these programs not only stop receiving benefits, but also start paying taxes the government will have to spend less and even be taking in more. Welfare programs were not designed to sustain families for their lifetimes, and by offering individuals the opportunity to become successful the cost of educating these groups would become significantly less as time went on. Another possibility for reducing the cost of education is attaching a service requirement to a tuition payment. This policy has already been polled and, “approximately eighty-seven percent of those polled showed a least some support” (Levine 643). This type of service requirement would save the government millions of dollars by reducing the cost of outsourcing general labor services. Requiring recipients of free education programs to volunteer their time is also a means to instilling values in these citizens that change the path of their lives. President Obama said in his commencement address at