[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Jonathan Patschke]

On Wed, 20 Jan 2010, Lionel Peterson wrote:

>> Why does it cost $250,000/year?  That would fund five full-time
>> employees or four full-time employees and a tremendous amount of
>> equipment.
>
> Exactly.
>
> Special transport, special equipment, assistive technologies, a phalanx
> of senior professionals, an attendant, etc.
>
> The fully-loaded cost of a speech therapist with a PhD is how much?
> (incl healthare benefits, pension, etc) I dunno, but $125,000 is
> probably the right ballpark.

And, in exchange for all this money spent, this kid is going to find the
cure for cancer?  Yeah, I think the marketplace probably would let this
kid fall through the cracks at that price--not 100% probably, but his
personal level of assistance would probably be cut back.

I realize how entirely callous that sounds, but look at it from the supply
side: two of those speech therapists would have to work full-time and give
up their entire paychecks so that one kid can get the suboptimal education
afforded in government school.  How is this a good deal?

Would -you- be willing to work full-time and give your entire paycheck to
provide for him?  If not, how is it any more fair to spread that bill
across a bunch of strangers without their permission?

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  ) "Science is what we understand well enough to explain
Elgin, TX         (   to a computer.  Art is everything else we do."
USA                )                                    --Dr. Donald Knuth