3. TIL there's more gold in a ton of mobile phones than a ton of gold ore. It takes...

TIL there's more gold in a ton of mobile phones than a ton of gold ore. It takes a ton of ore to get 1g of gold, but you can get the same amount from recycling 41 mobile phones

First, if the government doesn't provide education, they will return the money. I don't think so. :)

If the government stops providing Good X, we don't have to be taxed for Good X. That said, I do concede that to the extent someone has spent decades in their one life on this earth rising the ranks of a political apparatus, it is highly unlikely they'd be in favor of reducing its scope and power if they didn't have to. If the government listens to the citizens, it shouldn't be hard to get the money back though... the logic is as simple as, "Buy you taxed this money from us to provide a service you're now no longer being asked to provide."

Second, IF you got that money back, it wouldn't be enough for Private school as it stands right now.

That is an apples-to-oranges comparison though. Today private education is so expensive only because it's trying to go after those who not only have enough income to justify avoiding sending their kids to a schooling option that's "already paid for" but also feel that they need a better source of education than one the public curriculum offers. If we got rid of public education an entire market could be created to go after more affordable, but lesser quality, education. Today the reason why that model can't exist is because it's going to be competing against a public education system that is perceived to be "free".

These are REALLY rough numbers, but the average American tax payer pays about $5000 a year to local, state, and federal taxes that go to education. (623 billion in education funding split amongst about 122 million tax payers), but the average private school tuition in he US is over $13,000 per year.

See above... but this is apples-to-oranges.

Third assumption, and his is a big one, 'if the government wasn't providing an education, we would still value it enough to get one' I've yet to see a single example of a society where the government does not provide a quality education to its citizenry, but the populace manages to be well educated and productive. It just doesn't happen.

What do you make of today how there are those out there who are spending portions of their limited time on this earth to learn skills and they are not being forced by their government to do so? Nor are they forced to do so through a government-provided program?

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