Why higher education should be free

[Dissent]

Bob Samuels: Why All Public Higher Education Should Be Free

Tell me why this would be wrong? Do we want a nation of idiots? Ya see what that got us...Bush for 2 terms and Obama so far for one....seriously tell me how normal people can afford college without going into extreme debt...

 

[daphillenium]

I've got kids in school now in fourth and first grade. We've been supplementing their education at school with our own instruction at home recently.

Khan academy is, in my opinion, going to be a revolution of the way we educate our young ones.

It's completely free and has thousands of subjects! There are schools trying out a new way of teaching kids. It's a reversal of how we do things now. Instead of homework at home, the kids learn the material through text and online videos. They then go to school where they aren't seperated into "grades" by age. They are grouped with others in their same developemental level. They then teach each other by doing homework together with a teacher there to assist. I always heard in the military the best way to learn is to teach! The students cannot move on until they absolutely master the level they are currently in.

Then you've got all kinds of higher education available for free now as well, for example MIT open course ware. Google it. It's great!

I don't think kids will be going to school like we did for much longer.

 

[eflatminor]

....seriously tell me how normal people can afford college without going into extreme debt...

By ending the government monopoly on affordable education.

 

[Avatar4321]

So your a big government libertarian now?

btw real education is free. we are all free to read whatever book we want.

 

[Dissent]

....seriously tell me how normal people can afford college without going into extreme debt...

By ending the government monopoly on affordable education.

So getting government out of education is all of a sudden going to make education free or at least affordable? How?

 

[eflatminor]

Bob Samuels: Why All Public Higher Education Should Be Free

Tell me why this would be wrong? Do we want a nation of idiots? Ya see what that got us...Bush for 2 terms and Obama so far for one....seriously tell me how normal people can afford college without going into extreme debt...

Dude, does your own tagline not contradict the idea of "free" college? You want us to know that, as an Anarcho-capitalist, you see "the only just basis for law as arising from private property norms and an unlimited right of contract between sovereign individuals."

Your free education is going to largely come from...property tax! Further, how are contractual rights of individuals hoping to compete in the education market being treated under system of government controlled education?

In short, what Marxist nonsense is this!

 

[Dissent]

Who pays the teachers/professors if education is free/affordable..I mean who the hell has thousands of dollars laying around to educate themselves with?this just doesn't make sense to me...is there a book by Friedman/Rothbard/Paul I can read? Anyone will do as long its something about education from a libertarian point of view and how it can be achieved.

 

[naturegirl]

Come on, government cannot properly educate students in K-12. Do you honestly think making higher education free will make Americans smarter??

Government should get out of education altogether as long as there are teacher's unions.

 

[Dissent]

I have 3 kids I would love to know how they are supposed to afford college minus them getting a scholarship of some kind...

 

[eflatminor]

....seriously tell me how normal people can afford college without going into extreme debt...

By ending the government monopoly on affordable education.

So getting government out of education is all of a sudden going to make education free or at least affordable? How?

Free? Hell no! You know what's free? Something that isn't worth shit.

A free market in education would however introduce the competition and innovation necessary to drive prices down and customer satisfaction (aka, results) up. That's what a competitive marketplace does.

It's been said before...Public educators, like Soviet farmers, lack any incentive to produce results, innovate, to be efficient, to make the kinds of of difficult changes that private firms operating in a competitive market must make to survive.

 

[Dissent]

Come on, government cannot properly educate students in K-12. Do you honestly think making higher education free will make Americans smarter??

Government should get out of education altogether as long as there are teacher's unions.

I agree government should be out of it. Why is it we have free k-12 education but soon as they get to college its all of a sudden thousands of dollars for 1 semester of college...makes no sense to me or how a Libertarian society or hell even this society now we can afford it I think its draconian to make people pay to be more educated...its like an elitist thing to do.
That's what it seems like to me...make is so expensive on the elite and rich can afford it without going into debt for the rest of their lives.

 

[Amazed]

Sure...and food....and housing.....and medical care, hell let's make everything free.

 

[eflatminor]

Who pays the teachers/professors if education is free/affordable..I mean who the hell has thousands of dollars laying around to educate themselves with?this just doesn't make sense to me...is there a book by Friedman/Rothbard/Paul I can read? Anyone will do as long its something about education from a libertarian point of view and how it can be achieved.

I recommend:
BARNES & NOBLE | The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents, The Definitive Edition by F. A. Hayek, University of Chicago Press | NOOK Book (eBook), Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook

and

BARNES & NOBLE | Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises, CreateSpace | NOOK Book (eBook), Paperback, Audiobook

 

[LoneLaugher]

It should not be free. It should be paid for......with income taxes. Like they do in places who think more clearly regarding this topic.

The entire nation benefits whenever a child receives a quality education. It is a worthwhile national investment.

 

[eflatminor]

Why is it we have free k-12 education...

Get 'em young, get 'em forever. If you want a more centrally planned economy over time (the very heart of Progressivism), start by teaching the children to look to government when issues arise. The best way to do that is to have the government control the market for education. Not just the funding of education, but everything, from what's in the text books to how many tater tots get served at lunch.

 

[naturegirl]

I have 3 kids I would love to know how they are supposed to afford college minus them getting a scholarship of some kind...

There are many ways to pay for college, scholarships are one. I have no idea how old your kids are but if you want them to go to college, I'd start saving now, today.

I'm thinking if we did a better job in K-12, college would be a piece of cake. I wish I had a number of how many remedial classes students take before they actually embark on a degree.

My son that had a scholarship decided college wasn't that important. At 23 he went back to school but he's paying for it himself.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Why is it we have free k-12 education...

Get 'em young, get 'em forever. If you want a more centrally planned economy over time (the very heart of Progressivism), start by teaching the children to look to government when issues arise. The best way to do that is to have the government control the market for education. Not just the funding of education, but everything, from what's in the text books to how many tater tots get served at lunch.

Idiot.

 

[Dissent]

I got the road to serfdom upstairs to read...so that's great..So what would happen to k-12 schools if the government isn't involved in them? We have to start paying for them or no?

 

[eflatminor]

It should not be free. It should be paid for......with income taxes. Like they do in places who think more clearly regarding this topic.

The entire nation benefits whenever a child receives a quality education. It is a worthwhile national investment.

Unfortunately, when government CONTROLS the education, as they do for nearly all affordable education, quality is the last thing we see. Private schools, sure.

If you really think a quality education is important for all, you'd advocate for a system where the poor get financial assistance to pay for a school provided by a competitive and efficient education market. If you advocate the status quo, there is no way you really want quality in education. Quantity, perhaps.

 

[Dissent]

I have 3 kids I would love to know how they are supposed to afford college minus them getting a scholarship of some kind...

There are many ways to pay for college, scholarships are one. I have no idea how old your kids are but if you want them to go to college, I'd start saving now, today.

I'm thinking if we did a better job in K-12, college would be a piece of cake. I wish I had a number of how many remedial classes students take before they actually embark on a degree.

My son that had a scholarship decided college wasn't that important. At 23 he went back to school but he's paying for it himself.

They are 5,3, and 4 months
I got a hope scholarship for 500$ when I graduated but never did use it...