As you prepare for the birth of your child, you start to explore education alternatives. You’re probably inundated by childcare and education providers offering their services. You focus on the options that best fit your values and your wallet. With property taxes for education a thing of the past, you have more money available for education. Your choices include everything from the Walmart of basic education in your neighborhood to costly boutique alternatives. And the online education equivalent of Amazon offers stiff competition to brick-and-mortar schools.
Just as an inexpensive small car today is almost of as good quality as a large luxury model, your child’s education is a good one, whether the Walmart, Amazon, or boutique version. Many schools offer scholarships and scaled tuition rates to attract families of different background. And if you need it, affordable private financing is easy to come by because, under capitalism, a child’s education is considered one of the best and safest investments around.
In a capitalist social system, concerns about college affordability is a marginal issue as most people likely won’t need higher education because basic education will be inexpensive and high quality. Under capitalism, your parents’ values and wallets guide them to what they think is best for you, and they have an abundance of affordable, quality options to choose from.
As you finish your basic, high-quality education, perhaps around age 15, you entertain (with your parents’ consent) exciting job offers from a variety of employers, many that provide training programs for skills that you didn’t learn in school. We explained that in today’s high-tech, industrial world, generally employers look to hire you for the thinking skills that you developed while in school. With that base, they can teach you, and you can learn, pretty much anything on-the-job. A few specialized professions such as medicine, law, engineering, and natural science require additional study for which future employers, banks, and other financial institutions compete to provide financial support. But most professions are taught on-the-job through a mix of on- and offsite classroom theory and real-life practice without the need for financial aid. To cover the costs involved, some employers who offer extensive training might offer employment contracts that require either a certain term of employment or a repayment option should you choose to leave early.
Think Right or Wrong, Not Left or Right 