If
You Want It, You Have to Pay for It
If you want it, you have to pay for it. What am I talking about? I mean higher education in the United States of America, of course. Every college student knows the drill. If you are not lucky and your parents cannot support you, you have to save the money on your own to be able to attend a university. Most students work during semesters so that they can pay some of their tuition. However, they need to pay for the accomodation, food, and textbooks as well. That is a lot of pressure on students with small certainty whether they can get a job after their graduation. Do you think that paid education is a good thing? Paid higher education leads to a decrease in the number of students who decide to attend a university, to a loss of gifted students, to a shortage of experts in certain fields, and to a creation of unequal society.
In my opinion, paid education means that there is a decrease in the number of students who decide to continue their studies after their graduation. Even though the reason for it may not always be the price of education, the estimated costs do not really encourage students to apply for an undergraduate program. An average American family is comprised of two or three children as we can so on www.statista.com. Imagine the financial burden if all the children want to study. Envision if there is an emergency in the family. A natural disaster, a disease or a sudden death of a family member can happen unexpectedly and the student is forced not to spend the money for higher education but for food instead. These and other circumstances lead to unstable environment for any future student who has not been born into an affluent family.
Because of paid higher education, there is a loss of gifted students. With a disadvantage of being not wealthy enough, there are a lot of students who decide to get a job in order to support their families. Despite scholarships, we need to realize there is not enough support for everybody who deserves it. Applying for scholarships is a time consuming proces with an uncertain result. Students who depend on these donations are often at risk of losing them because of other more eligible candidates, or the foundation has no other access to the source of funding, and the whole scholarship ceases to exist. The bright futures of a young man or woman can then turn out to be a nightmare. Even the students who are interested in technical or needed positions can face these problems which leads to shortage of experts.
As mentioned above, some programs are not as desired as others. In my opinion, there are not enough students who are very passionate about Information Technology, genetic engineering, or medicine. And those few who are interested may decide to choose a less expensive, shorter alternative. The fact that businesses all around the world need these kinds of educated people makes the whole situation even worse because, in my opinion, there is a constant lack of them which can cause stagnation on fields of science and technology. Paid education may provide laboratories full of advanced technical devices, but what is the point of it when there are not enough students to make use of them? Does paid higher education really lead to progress, or is it the other way around? Does the amount of money prevent gifted and intellectual people from getting the education needed? And if the answer to this question is yes, what can be done about it? Is higher education going to be a privilege of wealthy people?
Affluant parents´ children are given the opportunity to receive education, for they can afford it. We can see that the social gap is growing every day because educated people also tend to marry other educated people, and families without higher education are predestined to stay poorer compared to the families established by educated couples. Without equality in social stratification we are at risk of increase in crime, prostitution, organ trade, and so on. So do we still believe that paid higher education is the right way to go?
As a European, I believe that education should be free. I can understand a few reasons why some people may oppose me, but I think there are more disadvantages than advantages of paid higher education. Paid education might discourage people from studying. Paid education does not promote new experts in fields of technology and science the way it should. Paid education wastes young non-wealthy talents as well, and what is even worse, it creates unequal society. In my opinion, free education is something that should be anchored in The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. I dare to say that free education is worth fighting for.
If you want it, you have to pay for it. What am I talking about? I mean higher education in the United States of America, of course. Every college student knows the drill. If you are not lucky and your parents cannot support you, you have to save the money on your own to be able to attend a university. Most students work during semesters so that they can pay some of their tuition. However, they need to pay for the accomodation, food, and textbooks as well. That is a lot of pressure on students with small certainty whether they can get a job after their graduation. Do you think that paid education is a good thing? Paid higher education leads to a decrease in the number of students who decide to attend a university, to a loss of gifted students, to a shortage of experts in certain fields, and to a creation of unequal society.
In my opinion, paid education means that there is a decrease in the number of students who decide to continue their studies after their graduation. Even though the reason for it may not always be the price of education, the estimated costs do not really encourage students to apply for an undergraduate program. An average American family is comprised of two or three children as we can so on www.statista.com. Imagine the financial burden if all the children want to study. Envision if there is an emergency in the family. A natural disaster, a disease or a sudden death of a family member can happen unexpectedly and the student is forced not to spend the money for higher education but for food instead. These and other circumstances lead to unstable environment for any future student who has not been born into an affluent family.
Because of paid higher education, there is a loss of gifted students. With a disadvantage of being not wealthy enough, there are a lot of students who decide to get a job in order to support their families. Despite scholarships, we need to realize there is not enough support for everybody who deserves it. Applying for scholarships is a time consuming proces with an uncertain result. Students who depend on these donations are often at risk of losing them because of other more eligible candidates, or the foundation has no other access to the source of funding, and the whole scholarship ceases to exist. The bright futures of a young man or woman can then turn out to be a nightmare. Even the students who are interested in technical or needed positions can face these problems which leads to shortage of experts.
As mentioned above, some programs are not as desired as others. In my opinion, there are not enough students who are very passionate about Information Technology, genetic engineering, or medicine. And those few who are interested may decide to choose a less expensive, shorter alternative. The fact that businesses all around the world need these kinds of educated people makes the whole situation even worse because, in my opinion, there is a constant lack of them which can cause stagnation on fields of science and technology. Paid education may provide laboratories full of advanced technical devices, but what is the point of it when there are not enough students to make use of them? Does paid higher education really lead to progress, or is it the other way around? Does the amount of money prevent gifted and intellectual people from getting the education needed? And if the answer to this question is yes, what can be done about it? Is higher education going to be a privilege of wealthy people?
Affluant parents´ children are given the opportunity to receive education, for they can afford it. We can see that the social gap is growing every day because educated people also tend to marry other educated people, and families without higher education are predestined to stay poorer compared to the families established by educated couples. Without equality in social stratification we are at risk of increase in crime, prostitution, organ trade, and so on. So do we still believe that paid higher education is the right way to go?
As a European, I believe that education should be free. I can understand a few reasons why some people may oppose me, but I think there are more disadvantages than advantages of paid higher education. Paid education might discourage people from studying. Paid education does not promote new experts in fields of technology and science the way it should. Paid education wastes young non-wealthy talents as well, and what is even worse, it creates unequal society. In my opinion, free education is something that should be anchored in The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. I dare to say that free education is worth fighting for.