Free Community College

[freeloader]

The "f" word in our house - "free"  No such thing.  We require our kids to say "taxpayer-funded" because that's what it is.  It can only be free if all teachers and staff at a school gave their labor for free, and the electric company provided free electricity, and the water company provided free water, etc.

Oh, and I always follow it with "and who is the taxpayer who's going to be funding this?" and they get to say "me." Yep, you.  You're going to be paying for it one way or another.

That’s interesting. In my house, my children are taught to roll their eyes when they hear arguments like this. They understand that these arguments are just a convenient slide-of-hand used by people with a particular political persuasion to argue against taxation and governmental spending. 

My children, in contrast, have been taught to understand what free actually means. If you look it up, it means without cost or a requirement to pay.  It is no exaggeration to understand that this means on the part of the recipient, as literally nothing has no cost to the person or entity providing it. They are sophisticated enough to understand that everything has a cost to the provider. Even if there is not a fiscal note attached, an actual outlay of dollars or material, there is an opportunity cost associatived with providing that thing (whether tangible or non-tangible) of value.  

They have been taught that, by dfecore’s understanding of free, that NOTHING of this world is actually free. If you a person of faith, perhaps the love of a deity is free, but that’s a discussion for a different thread. 

My children have also been taught about the social utility of taxation and government spending. They understand that it’s better to live in a civil society than in the “wilderness” of economic theory.