Education

It is extremely important that all children get an education, both high school and post high school.  Not only does getting an education help teach our children about the world and important principles, but also it increase their annual income.  "The hourly minimum wage of the typical college graduate in the U.S was approximately 1.5 times the hourly wage of the typical high school graduate in 1979.  By 2009, the ratio stood in 1.95.  This enormous growth in earnings differential between college and high school educated workers reflects the cumulative effect of three decades of more or less continuous increase. (Friedman and Mandelbaum 101)"  The chart below is from the U.S Census Bureau regarding how much an individual makes depending on how much education they have.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements, accessed atwww.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/people/p16.xls, on Sept. 9, 2010.

This graph shows that the more education you have the more money you make.  Unfortunately, it is very hard for many people to get a quality education because of the rising costs of getting a post secondary degree.  The Free Bird Party values education and wants every American whether young or old to have the opportunity to get a quality education.  We propose lowering the costs of education as well as lowering the interest on student loans to allow more students the opportunity to afford an education.

The U.S Treasury divides the federal government's money into three different groups.  There is mandatory spending, interest on federal debt, and discretionary spending.  Discretionary spending is where the government decides how much funding they would like to a given program, so for example, education.

The graph below shows the proposed spending of the government’s money in 2014.

This graph shows that out of all of the government’s money, only 30% goes towards programs that the government has implemented.

The chart below shows how the money used for discretionary spending is split up.

Unfortunately, only 6% of the total 30% of federal money is going towards education.  That is a very small amount for something as serious as well as important as education.

So putting everything into perspective, below is a graph of the total proposed spending in 2014.

Overall, the federal government plans on spending only 2% of the budget on education. This is completely unacceptable.  The Free Birds Party proposes that we put more federal funding into education and help not only public elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers succeed, but also college professors and public universities succeed.  If we put more funding in, the more we will get out.

The link below is a great source for learning more about what the government can do for you in not only paying for college, but also preparing for college.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/



Works Cited:

Friedman, Thomas L., and Michael Mandelbaum. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print.

Works Cited:

"Federal Budget 101." National Priorities Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.