Full citizenship == High School diploma

Here's one of my more often verbalized rants, but I thought I'd post it here for posterity.


So, I think that a whole bunch of benifits should be attatched to the graduation of High School, so that kids are really, really motivated to graduate. As would immagrants, former dropouts, et cetera.


Basically, with the graduation of High School (or equivalent) people would then recieve the benifits of full citizenship:

driving, marriage privledges (usually gotten at age 16)
right to vote (usually at 18)
rights to drink, smoke, gamble (21)
Plus all the other benifits of legal adulthood (credit cards, running for office, independence, etc.)

And maybe $10,000 or so in new currency, as a means of injecting new money into the economy. They could use this towards furthering their education, or investing, or wasting on drinking, smoking, and gambling. The nice thing about using newly minted money rather than regular money is I don't like monetary redistributions, so this seems like useful ideological loophole for me.


I think would be excellent motivation to learn, perhaps enough to have truly inteligent kids try and progress as fast as they want to get out into the real world.

Of course, I would also seriously try to make the education requirements much higher than they are now, at least as high as citizenship tests on history, law, and whatnot. Definately laying the foundations in personal financing, computer skills, history, legal system, geography, sciences, literacy, mathematics, and all the other crucial skills for life.

I'm also toying with the idea of a year of service in the government, whether in a military, beurocratic, or administrative capacity. Something to both get an insiders look, and far enough from home to get some perspective.

My only concern would be for those who cannot pass the standard for graduation. Would this create an underclass of powerless people?



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(25!)

solution to prescription drug costs

The largest percent of money for prescritption drugs goes not into production, but into research. Most drug research is fruitless, moneywasting adventures that don't produce products the industry is interested in providing for consumers. Second largest percentage is in advertising, expanding public awareness of their products so people will be more likely to order them.

My solution addresses both these issues, and a couple more.

How do we make prescription drugs much cheaper? By nationalising the research. Yes, have the government toss money into the air for drug research. Its very good at oft fruitless research. Second part? All chemical compostions are public domain. It never made sense to me to patent that sort of intelectual right. So, if everything is public domain, the main concern of drug producers would be to find the cheapest production costs because of the competition with all the other drug producers that would spring up overnight. Gov would be responsable for researching new drugs, testing new drugs, etc. Industry focuses on what it does best, actually manufacturing nessisary drugs as efficiently as possible.


I think it just might work!



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Where was I?

So I start classes tomarrow. I'm actually excited. I'm graduating this year. Sometime. I'll get back to you.

Anyway, I'm taking an English lit class on old Greek and Roman classics. Stuff I'd like to read anyway. Cool. Plus a political science course on war and peace in the middle east. Fun stuff.

Oh! And my birthday is on the 24th. Of what, I'm not saying.



Anyway, the question of the day is as follows:

If you could only choose one basis for a society, would you base it on-
1. Equality
2. Making the minimum quality of life as high as possible
3. Maximising the total quality of life (highest average)

Now, by quality of life I mean lifespan, comfort level, purchasing power, happiness, etc.

My significant other was torn between the first two. I rejected equality out of hand, because it could be at any level. I'm most attracted to the third option, because it seems the most uninhibited: it can reach the highest heights.


So, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.




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(Peekaboo)