According to this Harvard reviewed article, investments made in childhood education may be one of the best investment decisions as it provides value to not only to the investor but to society. However, fellow Sauder Student Alexander De Iaco’s take on this publication reveals he is against government investments into early education. Alexander’s blog post sparked my interest as it reminded me of a Reddit thread I read on the bus earlier this week. The post was a question asked about what major issue we should be concerned about as society with one of the top-level comments was on how flawed society’s perception of education is. The combination of the article, Alexander’s insight as well as my personal knowledge allowed me to provide my view on this topic.
I agree with Alexander’s point that governments should not be spending lavishly on the people as though it provides social benefit, the costs on the hard-working class will simply go up and it’s at a remarkably high rate already. Furthermore, this opens another great discussion on taxation which I will not dwell on much for the sake of the word limit but in short, taxation should not be as high as it should already according to this source and my firsthand experiences. According to the source, Canadians are paying above the OCED average, with the average taken on the richest 35 nations on the planet. Additionally, it seems like our government does not really know how to tax their citizens as well nor spend their tax revenue with examples including Trudeau’s plan to implement a special tax on retail employee’s discounted purchases when retail employees tend to make around minimum wage and the Liberal government spending over $20 000 on Snapchat filters. This and witnessing my parents pay almost 10% of their income on property taxes alone as well as myself having to drive all the way across the border to avoid a 30% duties charge on my online purchases from American companies selling Canadian made products simply makes me shoot down any arguments on tax additions. Another point of Alexander I would like to touch base on would be how early education, although significant to a child’s development can be informal too. Personally, I did not attend pre-schooling and as a Sauder student, I feel that decision didn’t mar my growth. In fact, I can relate many more of my current issues with poor experiences I had in high-school rather than my early childhood. Additionally, it is reading that is considered most important for childhood development, ridding of the “need” for a formal childhood education.
Word Count: 433
Imagery Source: Children’s Campus