What should the government spend money on?

In your view, what is the most important thing for governments to spend money on: education, health, transportation, or something else?

Although we can’t argue the importance education, health and transportation play in the modern society, we can discuss the order of priority that the government should be spending on. Personally, I believe that good education will form a solid foundation for a developing society.

Knowledge is power - the saying doesn’t go without reason. Educating people is one of the best ways to expand their knowledge, deterring them from a damaging path of misinformation. Someone who does not know the long-term dangers of smoking may take on smoking as a harmless activity, and so more money will be spent on their health down the line to compensate for the years of smoking. Whereas if a person is educated properly to firmly believe in the long-term effects of nicotine, tar and tobacco in cigarettes, they may never need to risk their health or having to spend a drastic amount on curing respiratory illnesses like pneumonia that stems from smoking.

Being educated comes to play in other ways too. Educating the current youth properly will lead to better future leaders and businessmen. Instilling certain values and practices in people will allow good behaviors to be passed on for generations, while bad behaviors condemned and avoided. Educating people on the history of a country will let them know strengths and weaknesses of the people and discover ways that could mitigate recurring mistakes in history. Investing in engineering school may lead to future generations coming up with a formula for better infrastructure, whereas investing in medical school might offer someone the opportunity to invent the cure to a terminal illness – that’s killing two birds with one stone!

Overall, my faith lies firmly in the power of education, and I believe the government should prioritize investing in that. Not only does education act as a deterrent from unfavorable circumstances, but also a catalyst for growth and development.

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