What's the real cost?

One of the problems of separating things into categories is that they need also to be considered together. Within business management is the term 'right first time'. In manufacturing especially, companies have learned that the cost of repairing errors is much more than preventing them. If these errors are discovered later the price just keeps going up. This factor is invisible till a competitor improves on their error rate and produces a better product. Many companies simply go out of business. The same goes for services. As education is a state monopoly, it can not be directly competed against and the errors are not highlighted. Of course other countries will provide the competition. Where do you get coal and ships from, Britain? The latest IT and Science?

The first example of right first time is pre-school, in education but also other early years provision. The cost for a parent is £212 a week according to Money advice service which would max out at just over £11,000 a year for full time for 52 weeks or £7,000 for 32 weeks. Prison starts at £20,000 a year for an open prison. The average for 2013/14 was £33,785 for the prison cost per prisoner. Then there's the probation service costs, court costs (it's OK lawyers are cheap) and Police costs. Then there are other costs to victims, insurance (shared cost to everyone else) and that's just £. There are other non money costs to victims, prisoner's family, I could go on. So the question is does Pre school reduce prisoner numbers?

Well I am glad you asked. American research in Chicago found this out costing pre school at $5,000 and prison at $80,000, and yes as reported on Freakanomics (Nov 19^th 2015) yes it does. So the point is Pre school pays for itself in reduced prison costs. Then ask the questions about health costs and tax receipts and they will show profit, a true investment in the future. The cost of not doing something may be hard to understand but it still happens. Each stage of education is built on the previous stage so Universities can not make up for schooling. It is also the expensive way round a problem.

Physical and mental health follow the same pattern, getting addicts to give up or overweight people to loose weight is much less successful and more expensive than healthy habits from early years. Children smoke less than before so well done for introducing laws a short 50 years+ after the evidence appeared. Obesity has to be tackled before it starts. Nutrition and exercise need to be instilled and habituated as early as possible. The choice we make at the moment is the highest heart attack rate and worst survival rates in the western world (and there's stoke, cancer and don't get me started on Diabetes), rather than early provision. Of course now there's historical trends to reverse.

Another example is the cost of each of the around 2,000 stomach band operations is £8,000 (other costs e.g. maintenance after and failures not included). Would that £8,000 pay for a PE and nutrition teacher (part time) in a primary school. We choose to pay for the operations (and the other costs of extreme obesity) rather than a professional for children's health (and better lifelong health). [Note: There is an argument that operations are cheaper than the consequences of obesity] Many primary schools have poor PE provision with no specialists on team. A child who starts secondary school with no experience will not be attracted to sports when there are with/against other children with years more experience then them. They do not just avoid PE during school they have a pattern for life.

Mental health is much less visible mainly because we do not look, and work with ignorance. Some mental health issues are effected significantly by substances and genetics. But even those are aided by exercise. Dealing with mental health problems is generally aided by exercise and nutrition. And yet these factors and the systematic operation of schools are not conducive to mental health. Whether it is stress of exams, large groups and lack of individual attention and support. Little healthy development occurs. Rather than the law of the playground (jungle) and expensive CBT latter on why not teach children to cope and plan gradual development. Not throwing them in the deep end and labelling the children as to how they cope. For example if the older, larger more experienced child beats the younger, smaller and inexperienced child, they are not more talented!

The Buddhist belief is that life is suffering, education sometimes causes suffering even when they claim the moral high ground. Education the word comes from ‘to lead’ in Latin. Is the leadership up to the task?