U.S. seeks Education on the Cheap. See what Denmark, Sweden and Finland Spend.

It's funny, in the U.S. we're constantly whining about leaving our kids with higher taxes, while at the same time, cutting away funding that will allow them to make more money as adults.

In many of the top European countries, it's completely different, and if it wasn't for the U.S. created Great Recession, the EU wouldn't be in the mess it's in now. Their monetary policy sucks too, but that's another story.

Education is thriving there. While Republicans point only to vouchers as something they'd like to import to the U.S., they purposely ignore the tremendous taxpayer investments made in education and the national curricula.

This may shock a lot of conservatives when they see the cost, heck it shocked even me. I'm sure there's more to this than the following short summary, but check it out anyway.  You'll see how Americans continue to cut corners with cheap vouchers schemes and religious doctrine that passes for education. The use of the term "welfare state" would be enough to make every teabilly pass out for hours. eSchoolnews (subscription)

Nordic countries, built around the welfare-state model, and which score high on international education benchmarking tests, have provided successful preschool education programs for decades … On Feb. 28, education leaders from Denmark, Sweden, and one of PISA’s top-scoring countries, Finland, met at the Brookings Institution to discuss how their preschool education system works and why they believe that high-quality preschool education keeps their economy going. The Heckman Equation shows that programs targeted toward the earliest years of child development return dollars to the economy later in life.

In Denmark, explained Christine Antorini, minister for children and education, the mindset is focused not only on income equality, but gender equality. A flexible market allows families to make time to have children. Parents can share up to one year of paid leave to take care of their newborn children. Unemployment is lower than in other parts of the world … Almost all children are in day care from the age of one.

“We believe strongly in lifelong learning, which is free for all—college included. We also have universal day care. Of course, an average of 50 percent of your income goes to the state.”

Gulp! 50 percent of a person’s income in Denmark goes to the state? What do you get for that? Can you take it hunting? Does it require a gun or armed guards? What, that's not part of education? 

Antorini said that most Nordic countries make good on the promise to provide successful day care and preschool systems by ensuring four characteristics: high quality, a focus on public engagement, universal availability, and a focus on supporting gender equality.

Since 2004, all day care centers have been obligated to a curriculum for children up to two years old, and another for children ages 3 to school age. Curriculum focuses on personal development, social competences, language development, body and motion, knowledge of nature and natural phenomena, and cultural values and artistic expressions.

A municipality covers a minimum of 75 percent of the operating costs, and parents pay a maximum of 25 percent (approximately $400 per month). In Finland, each municipality spends roughly $656 per child to more than $1,000 per child. Denmark spends approximately 8 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on kids under 8 years old, and the U.S. spends roughly 0.1 percent of its GDP on the same age range.

“All of Finland’s teachers must have a research-based master’s degree that’s based on a five-year degree,” said a member of the Finnish Parliament. “We also set high wages for teachers, and teaching is considered a very respected profession in our country. This includes preschool teachers—every preschool teacher must have a college degree.”