The irony bothers me, but what bothers me more may be that it doesn't bother anybody else.
Our schools seem to be funded by sin. Sin taxes, that is.
Why are our schools supported by cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling? It sounds like if educators want more money funneled our way, we should be promoting more smoking, drinking, and slots. Maybe we could hook the kids on these things before they graduate. All in the name of job security, of course.
(That's sarcasm.)
For the record, I've noticed the biergarten promos to support battered women and children, too. More irony. Perhaps we should promote safer driving by selling joints to truck drivers.
Must I explain further?
Not only this, but where our money comes from in education is all a political game anyway. If you don't understand how this game is played, why don't you? The lottery brags that its money goes to education...where, of course, it does tons of good...but what happens to the money that was already being spent on education? Because it's not like education has collected a greatly-increased amount of money since the lottery came on line. If the lottery, or the gambling houses, or huge cigarette taxes are sending so much cash into the public school system - on top of what schools were already collecting - then where is the increase?
Obviously, with sin taxes earmarked for education, someone has decided the other funds are no longer necessary. Don't you suspect along with me that those funds are long gone by now - rerouted to somebody else's pockets? Why wouldn't it work that way? It seemed apparent to me from the get-go.
But the irony is almost sickening. When we teach children that smoking is hazardous, are we shooting ourselves in the foot? In a few years, if our teaching sticks, we will no longer collect as much income from cigarettes. Then what? Return funds from elsewhere? Instead, we could put some one-armed bandits in the school foyer, turn the conference room into a cigar lounge, etc. You get the idea. Should we not begin to promote the very lifestyles that support our objectives?
(Sarcasm, people!)
We live in a strange world, don't we?