Misplaced Government Spending I am proud to say that I live in America, the land of opportunity. I am proud to live in one of the richest countries in the world. I guess you could say I'm a proud American. What other government has a national budget of $2 trillion? People say money can't buy happiness, but I disagree. The reason people say money doesn't buy happiness is because they spend it on the wrong things. Of the $2 trillion available to the government, $355.4 billion is spent on the military each year. I know that our President must fight terrorism and wants to spend billions of dollars to ensure the safety of American citizens; However, I don't think spending nearly a billion dollars a day on military defense is the best way to keep our nation safe. Do I like the fact that I am "protected"? from the ?bad guys? which make up what George Dubya calls "The Axis of Evil". However, if you asked a group of people to locate Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, or Libya on a map, some people wouldn't know where to start looking. This is why spending nearly a billion dollars a day on the military is absurd when the quality of our education system is so low! The American government must define its priorities. They need to focus on educating our children. According to the Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2002, 19 percent (about $373 billion) of the national budget falls in the non-defense discretionary department. This provides funding for things like education, public transportation and housing. While 18% of the national budget is allocated to National Defense, which is spent exclusively on the armed forces. However, according to the Department for Education (ED), the structure of... middle of paper... ...seeing the school's performance in these tests is important, however students also need some entertainment in the classroom, whether in a physical education lesson where they have the opportunity to stay physically fit or in an art lesson where they can explore their creativity. However, these schools are more concerned with how well their students can fill in a bubble on an answer sheet. A well-balanced education is more important than any standardized test score. It is a much more comforting fact to know that a student has received a well-rounded education, rather than knowing that when he or she does not know the answer to fill in bubble C. Education should be a top priority for all Americans. Most politicians are people who went to school and then university and were successful. If they did so well, why don't they want American citizens to have the same opportunities?