The US also spends a lot of money on the military. Whether prudent or not, at least that spending produces an objectively superior product. We spend even more on education with ambiguous results.
It is high, but not exceptionally high[0]. It is then worth remembering that the US overcounts spending on primary and secondary education relative to peer countries because we lack most of the social welfare programs that exist in peer countries and effectively funnel welfare services through the education budget.
As an example, if you have a severely emotionally disturbed child the school district might spend ~$100,000 a year to house the student elsewhere[1]. In Norway, this problem would be budgeted under social services, rather than education.
Numbers are further inflated by increased cost of living relative to most peer countries[2]. This is effectively a dead-weight cost for which we receive no additional benefit. Since Labor is the biggest cost for schools it greatly impacts cost of education.
[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/238733/expenditure-on-ed...
[1] https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4110#:~:text=Special%....
[2] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-expe...
This view (https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/agency) suggests Defense spending is $1.1 trillion in 2023 while Department of Education funding is $208 billion.
That does not include college funding.
You're comparing apples to oranges.
False. For instance, California’s military spending in FY 2023-2024 is budgeted at $293.6 million (putting it between Paraguay and Niger in military spending), of which the majority is state funds, not federal support (by state funds alone, its somewhere around Monogolia’s military spending.)
It is true that the vast majority of the US’s defense spending is federal, though.
[0] https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/Enacted/GovernorsBudget/8...
I'm going to say that the former is a rounding error, and the latter is massively significant.
Do you have figures comparing "all-in" funding for both defense and education at the state and federal levels?
From casual inspection of the points posted so far, it seems like a more correct statement is: "The United States, nationally, funds education at about the same level as defense." If correct, I'd argue the initial poster's comment is inaccurate.
Putting the US as the 2nd in terms of "per pupil" funding in the world and pointing out that the federal education budget is just 10.5% of the total spend on education in the US.
"The US spent $877 billion on military in 2022, a new report says — more than 10 times federal education spending"
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-defense-military-budget-c...
States spend a lot on education, and not a lot on state military. This article claims California's 2022-2023 budget includes $128 Billion for education [1]. For 2018-2019, the California Military Department budget was $233 Million [2]. If other states are similar (and I think they are), state education budgets are significant relative to federal budget and make a difference in comparing the balance of spending; state military budgets are relatively small, but should be included for a more complete accounting regardless.
[1] https://edsource.org/2022/californias-new-budget-includes-hi...
Regardless, this isn't a d/ck size competition. What I'm saying is that we prioritize too much on military and too little on education. The numbers are irrelevant unless you're trying to prove we don't prioritize that way. I could easily argue against that by saying we have the best military on the planet and the dumbest kids [0].
[0] https://www.crossrivertherapy.com/research/literacy-statisti...
If your point wasn't to compare sizes, why did you bring your numbers?
I'm not the one who cares about state funding, you are.
It is easy enough to say that at a federal level, we prioritize funding the military over education.
Nice. Didn’t think I’d see “bombs over books” argued so early in the morning.
Also the military runs training programs which are probably more practically results oriented and efficient than most college programs, so maybe the Army could take over the function of general public education :)