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Econation Blog
How much is well-being worth?
How much is well-being worth? Not much it seems.
The Government's $13.1 million cut for Adult Community Education, announced in the 2009 Budget, has seen the number of community-based courses plummet.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said that though adult education courses benefited students, it was a question of whether taxpayers should foot the bill. "We support continuing education and will continue to support courses that deliver clear economic benefits. We simply cannot justify spending millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on courses that do not clearly deliver these benefits."
Firstly, why does everything have to have an economic benefit, what's happened to social and environmental benefits? We pay taxes for infrastructure, services and amenities that would otherwise not be available in a purely commercial system. Secondly all education has an economic benefit either directly and/or indirectly.
Adult education courses offer benefits far beyond short-term returns on investment. A quick look at any adult education programme will see that they offer courses that increase people's competence, confidence, self-sufficiency and general well-being. In purely economic terms this means that people are more productive because they are healthier, motivated and more competent.
Adult classes also provide an opportunity for social interaction, networking, collaboration and sharing.
Adult education is one very good way to help sustain and improve our society; it's relatively low cost can easily be justified by the multiple, varied benefits.
Read the full story at stuff.co.nz
Posted by Michael Lockhart on 12th February, 2010 | Comments | Trackbacks
Tags: General Sustainability, Government
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