Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Education seems enormously expensive — $13,494 per K-12 student as of 2020 in the U.S. Yet I’ve occasionally heard smart people argue that the true cost of the marginal student is roughly zero. How is that possible? Take a look at a classroom. It almost always has a spare seat. The building’s already there. The teacher’s already there. What does it cost to just let one more student sit in that seat and learn? Basically nothing, right? … Educational resources sit idle. Rather than let them go to waste, why not use them? But you need not summarily reject this argument to recognize its limits.” (05/08/23)
https://betonit.substack.com/p/the-cost-is-zero-or-astronomical