I never suggested that. I suggested it’d be more charitable to use the money set aside for charity in a way that benefits others. You don’t benefit your family and say it was charity.
> I believe I articulated my position on why that might be.
If you agree with that, then you agree it’s our job to maximise the number of functional well informed members of our society in order to have solid democracies. If we condemn a large part of the population to sub-par education, we get the flawed democracies we’ve seen flourishing in the past couple years.
Why not? What’s wrong with your family also benefitting when you give to your community?
Donating to your alma mater in no way exclusively benefits your family. It also provides scholarships for example. All of the most well endowed schools are very much looking for otherwise disadvantaged persons.
You are evidently using a definition of charity that’s somehow related to the tax code. From context it should be clear that by charity I meant our obligation to love our fellow humans. And a person who neglects his own family to provide for another is doing evil not good. Get your own house in order first.
> Supporting those in need is always more important than supporting those who don’t need support.
This is a surprising claim. If you also find this exchange interesting please elaborate. I’d agree that it’s true in some cases, but universally? Ought parents always give away all their resources except what is required for their family’s basic subsistence?
> I don’t see how genetics are involved here. It’s been proven many times it has little relation with academic success. Growing up in a favourable environment to learning is a much more powerful predictor.
The tabula rasa position has been thoroughly discredited. That said, growing up in a favorable environment for learning is also very much dependent on one’s parents’ mating strategy. Please construe that broadly: where they choose to settle, etc.
> One important role of public universal schooling is to form an informed electorate that can operate a democracy. If the last few years didn’t teach us we have been failing at that, I can’t imagine what will.
On this we agree. I believe I articulated my position on why that might be. What’s yours?