Final answer:
The student's question touches on the allocation of resources in an affluent society, debating the preference for military and luxury spending over educational investment, and reflects the 'guns versus butter' debate and concerns about the effectiveness and structure of the education system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is questioning the prioritization within an affluent society regarding spending on weaponry and cars over education. This concern aligns with the 'guns versus butter' debate, which suggests a nation must decide between a greater emphasis on military spending or on social programs, such as education. Many education experts have pointed out that despite increased financial resources, there have not been proportional gains in student performance, suggesting that the problem may lie in the structure of the educational system, rather than solely in financial resources.
Furthermore, the system of funding schools through property taxes creates disparities between rich suburban and poor urban/rural districts. During times of economic hardship, the 'Tax and Spend' approach, rooted in Keynesian economics, posits that government services, including education, form part of the nation's infrastructure. In contrast, for high-income countries like the U.S., the focus might be more on how to obtain better results from the existing education spending and improving high school graduates' performance, rather than simply increasing the education budget.