There is a current trend in my country where parents are doing everything financially possible to give their children the best education. Some parents have gone to the extent of selling properties or taking loans to send their children to some of the best schools in and outside the country. I have spoken with some of them, and the reason they give is that this child will get good jobs and take care of them in the future.
I had to bring up this issue because most of them are becoming disappointed and depressed. In my location, children are seen as an investment because they have the responsibility to take care of their parents when they are retired, old, or unemployed. So parents will want to invest high in education because they think it will bring high returns. Many of these students who attended prestigious schools end up becoming unemployed and are still depending on their parents to survive. I also assume that many of them regret going the extra mile to give their children the best. They have lost money and are also in debt but their children are still dependants.
Do you think parents should have a limit on the amount they can invest in their children?
In my opinion I don't really see educating a child as an investment plan but rather a responsibility and obligation that has been from creation.
It has always been that the parent of any offspring bears the responsibility of nurturing till maturity when they will become independent of their own and continue the same process which is essential for existence. So if the parent loves the child and desires the best for the child it doesn't mean the child owes him or her in return. But thesame goes to the child in the sense that he/she may love his/her parents and decide to care for them.
But that doesn't mean the children can't be invested upon either,the children may turn to be part of the parent's investment plan when the parent establishes a family business maybe a company or a factory depending on the kind of business that suits his investment strategy.
I've seen many businesses that is been controlled by members of one family and it continues even to the great grand children. So in that sense it becomes investment to me.