Schools

About Schools.

The people who offer bribes don't want our schools to be useful. They deliberately try to keep people uninformed and ignorant so that it helps them. They do this by giving less money to schools and providing textbooks that are not accurate.

Some people who are part of the Republican Party do not believe in public education. They think that all education should be private and paid for by families or charities. They want to keep people uneducated so that they can work for low wages for big corporations that support the Republican Party. This is a straightforward idea, and these people are less likely to vote.

Some very wealthy Republicans do not want us to have public schools. In 1980, David Koch, who was a billionaire, ran for Vice President and promised to close down all public schools in the US. Another former billionaire, Betsy DeVos, who was the Secretary of Education, wanted to change every school into a charter school and make money from public education. One way to ruin public schools is to make people scared to send their children there because of school shootings. This is happening all over the country, and it worries kids and parents. The people who don't like public schools and fund Republican politicians do not vote for laws that will protect schools from gun violence. Instead, they suggest that we make schools harder to enter by only having one entrance. However, a school with only one entrance is dangerous in case of a fire.

Before the Reagan Revolution, anyone could attend college without having to take out huge loans. The United States has always believed in free education. Thomas Jefferson established the first free college in the country, the University of Virginia. Abraham Lincoln also created free college by setting up seventy-three land-grant universities where college was free or very cheap. After World War II, soldiers could get a free education thanks to the GI Bill. It was found that for every dollar invested in each soldier's education after the war, the government received seven dollars in additional tax revenue. Providing free education makes everyone richer.

However, for the last forty years, Reaganomics has damaged the American education system. The American middle class is now burdened with huge student debt. The student loan industry only exists in America, and it is draining the life out of the middle class. Some people have worked hard to pay off their student loans, and that's great, but they should never have had that debt in the first place. Many people who have student loans have paid back the amount they borrowed, but they still owe a lot in interest and fees, which is suffocating them. It's not their fault they aren't rich, and they shouldn't have to take out loans to get an education. Some people argue that if we make education free, then we'll be paying off rich kids' debts. But rich people don't have student debt! They didn't need to take out a loan.

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Talking Points Information

For generations political scientists have tried to figure out exactly why Republicans have been so dead set against public schools. Wanting the ability to use taxpayer-funds to opt out of public education with a taxpayer paid voucher. Several states are trying to destroy public education. In California, right-wing extremists are working to put a ballot initiative up that would destroy public education by offering vouchers to every parent in the state.