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Recent federal and state budget proposals all embody a similar emphasis - cutbacks. This is understandable given that we have become a nation which operates on credit. Increasing productivity, balancing budgets, and reducing debt are shared goals, and it seems most are ready to sacrifice something to achieve these goals.
There is an old expression that everyone is likely familiar with, "you have to spend money to make money." This adage applies perfectly to education, and the future our nation. Education is not something I am willing to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow. Without quality education, our youth will be unable to compete, therefore our nation will fall beyond others who have chosen to make human capital investments.
Ultimately, cutting educational spending will hurt children in middle class and low income families. Quality education will not cease to exist in the private institutions that a very limited number of children attend, but creating budget shortfalls in public education will severely impact the quality of education the majority of children receive. This is regressive policy, and it will limit our national resources by reducing the number of talented and qualified individuals.
Economically the rest of the world still has a long way to go before they catch up. However, educationally the rest of the world is passing us in many arenas, including math and science. We should be increasing the quality of public education with better funding and better policy. Instead we are going in the opposite direction, and because of this, the ultimate the price tomorrow for saving today could be high.