Letter: Public school education valuable to everyone

Deane Gonzalez wrote in to say that, because he chose not to have children, he is “sick and tired” of his taxes going to education (“No-kids choice brings unfair tax burden,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 24).

I stared at the letter for some time, sincerely thinking it might be satire or a submission by a foreign agent intending to sow discord. The language seemed over the top: “You breed them, you educate them. What am I missing here?”

In venturing an answer, I would suggest to Gonzalez that our personal well-being is bound up with that of others and society as a whole — that we all benefit when children are educated regardless of their families’ financial means. The children in Hawaii’s public schools are Gonzalez’s children, too.

David Atcheson

Downtown Honolulu

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