Every baby gets 60k?

I bet outcomes wouldn't change that much even with the money.

Family and parents will still be the major factor and that's something that no amount of money will change.

 

A major factor, but money is definitEly the biggest factor-- and 60k may not change that.

 

60K will buy a lot of face tattoos and LBJ shoes, which is all this will do. Probably just enough math and heroin to put most in rehab too.

 

Money isn't the biggest factor.

You might not like it, but parents are the biggest factor.

 

I have no preference to it, it just isn't so. Give an orphan a scholarship and trust fund, and compare him to a kid with two parents living below the poverty level.

 

Or give an orphan and the kid with good parents $ and see where they end up. I'm thinking the kid with solid parenting and guidance comes out ahead.

 

The one with two loving caring parents will outperform as a population.

I’m not saying money isn’t a factor but would be secondary to what I just described.

We spend enough on education that if it was just a money issue it’d be fixed

 

I like the idea and my sentiments echo those of already stated like Card's.

If that $60,000 would be spent toward each child's mental and physical development during their first 5 years, that's where the most potential change would come from, IMO. Arguably, the first 3 years moreso. The 5 years of development before formal education begins is massively underappreciated when considering what influences a child's life.

 

Yup.

 

Give me the first 7 years and I’ll give you the man

 

Exactly, my 2 year old daughter can use "well, shit" and "dammit" in the proper context

But seriously, I agree. Those first 3 to 5 years are the base that everything else is built off of.

 

Lol. My parents watched Lonesome Dove with me in the room when I was like 4, not thinking there was anything problematic in it or that I’d even necessarily pick up on it if there was. Shortly after they had to break me of the habit I’d started of calling my little brother a sonuva[itch bay].

 

If this could work it would be really interesting.

 

I am not convinced it would work, but it would be easily testable. One could create a pool of 100 kids, say freshmen high schoolers, and give them each a trust of 60k (or adjusted per income, or maybe run three groups: 1 with 60k each, another with adjusted, and then a control where you just track 100 kids with squat). Balance the pool to have some representation of different socioeconomic backgrounds and other demographics. See where they end up in a decade or so.

 

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Agreed, a test study could fairly easily be done to see if something like this could work.

 

It's been stated already more elegantly in the thread, but people would screw it up. Naturally there would be limits on how it could be spent providing avenues for special interests to buy their way onto the approved list. Crazy tuition increases would likely get crazier. I think it could benefit some individuals without question, but just how many and how much is in question.

 

I don't think anyone thinks it will automatically solve all ills. The point is that it would narrow the gap between those who won the birth lottery and those who didn't.

 

The free cheese approach to “closing the gap” has proven very effective over the past century. Let’s quadruple down.

 

At what cost considering fairness can't be mandated?