As a new writer I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Mathias Koeppel and I'm from a lovely, small town called Barnesville. I enjoy writing down random thoughts and musings, like the one to follow, in my free time, along with listening to albums and contemplating such random thoughts and musings. I'm an Information Technology major looking to go into Health Informatics when I graduate, so my views on education, health, and technology seem to intersect. I hope to write both serious and non-serious pieces that make you think or question things in life. With that, here is my first writing.  

I, as a human being, was put on this Earth not by choice, but by opportunity. Take from that what you will and hear me out on what I have to say. People have come a long way in the evolution of society and what we determine are basic human rights. We understand that every human being deserves to live an opportunistic life and pursue happiness. One of these pursuits happens to be education, and like many of my fellow peers you know it comes at a cost. We can see many instances in history where education was a status usually attained by the wealthy.

So how is it that with benefits such as better governance, more equal opportunities, and a more productive workforce, we don’t see a higher demand in provided education? Currently we spend 20% of the budget on "defense" or military spending. This is almost as much as we spend on social security. Its not that I don't enjoy the safety of our society, I feel we put too much thought into an overbearing idea of protection. Why not focus more of those resources on educating our masses? I, as a student, love the idea of free education. In fact, I feel all levels of education should be provided in accordance that the student attends school and does well.

Now, I am sure many of you are laughing at the mere idea as the amount of capital it would take to provide this option...and probably from our own pockets. As I stated earlier our society’s highest priority is not education. So why not make it our highest priority and provide our future children with free accessible continuing education?

Here is another idea to help alleviate some of the cost. Currently we see huge tax revenue from cannabis legalization in certain states. Why not pump those tax dollars right back into our education system? People are voluntarily providing tax dollars in exchange for a commodity no different than cigarettes or alcohol. In fact, why don't taxes from harmful things like I stated go towards education in the first place? I say education alone simply because we see a decline in such use when people understand the effects of consuming harmful substances.

This is just one of many benefits. So here is an ending thought. If you’re voluntarily harming yourself, why not pay it forward to our education system so our children don’t make the same choices?