Universal Education

Up until College it should be free for people with good grades. After that scholarships are enough. At least where I live.

 

My convervative family would HATE me for saying this, but I totally agree.

I was homeschooled since 5th grade and it's been absolute hell. My mother hasn't helped me at all, everything I've learned since 5th grade has been self-taught.

My math skills are a complete embarassment...

I stay up all night thinking about how I'm going to get into college. I'm not only a dumbass, I'm also dirt poor.

I'm not a socialist, but I do think education should be a right. It even says so in the United States' Bill of Rights!

---------- Post added 3rd Apr 2014 at 10:51 AM ----------

I agree with you. The only problem would be with homeschoolers.

My mom keeps no record of my progress whatsoever. I'm good with all subjects except math, but how will the college know that?

Colleges should have some sort of test to see how much you know, like the SAT/ACT, only it could serve as a replacement for grades so children who didn't get graded can still go to college.

 

I would need to win a butt load of scholarships to cover the 25K or so a year that it'll cost me to go to university.

Belle: College already do that. If you haven't taken the ACT, they'll administer their own entrance exam.

 

They do that? Whenever I look up requirements for colleges, they say I need to have a certain GPA.
They'll let me just take an exam?

 

It's probably you need a certain GPA to stay off of academic probation. Although, are you looking at community colleges or what?

 

No costs for education at all, apart from private schools (which should never be funded by governments)

That isn't a big ask; hundreds of thousands, or millions of people go without adequate education in the first world because schools aren't well funded. More specifically, the élite schools get more funding than the schools that need it.

Good grades are often the product of a good home, a good school, and a good environment in general. Punishing the poor by making them have to pay more for school is not acceptable.

 

Belle: I don't know the exact details. But I do know that people who were home schooled were able to go to college.

This won't apply to all colleges. But I went to one college that had (technically) entrance requirements. But they were a general guide, not hard and fast rules. They would let people in who did not meet the requirements. In some cases, there would be conditions. Say, being on some sort of academic probation. Or a missed entrance requirement would become a college graduation requirement.

You might consider getting in touch with colleges, and talking the situation over.

And incidentally...weak math skills are nothing unique.

 

Bingo.

That could and almost certainly would greatly increase the number of poor under-educated human beings, which would be a negative for societies everywhere.

 

I also think that high quality education should be available to all. Up to and including college. It is reaching a point where a college degree of some sort is required to get even entry level jobs. And yet the US is doing a lousy job at making it affordable for real people.

 

My position on this can be best illustrated by this video: The West Wing -- Sam and Mallory - YouTube

Education from pre-school through post-secondary should be free of charge and funded by the federal government so that disparities may not persist between rich and impoverished districts and regions. Schools and libraries should be palaces of knowledge with the most advanced technology and the most ancient of references. Children should grow to despise that time between school days. The bar shouldn't be lowered to accommodate the less educate, it should be raised to uplift everyone, and those needing extra help should receive it with the same requirement as regular classes. Absolutely no one should be left behind or written off. Pregnant teens should have access to day cares and should be required to stay in school, and schools should teach sex-ed and provide birth control at no cost. No one should be kept from achieving success because of their economic status. Teachers should be trained better and paid much more. Salaries should be based upon student success, and success should not be measured solely by standardized tests, which fail to quantify mental flexibility, creativity, determination, and personal ethics. Teachers should be role models and kids should be treated for what they are: our future.

 

It's not just about universality, it's also about quality. I'm afraid the quality of education in this country is a lottery; it may be free, but it's not always good.

 

I want to get into a private college one day, but I plan on going to a community college first.

 

I think education should be free. Hell, if college was free, I might think about going back and getting more credits towards a fine arts degree, but it's just so expensive. I mean, at least community college should be free, I think. It'd be nice if it was all free, but colleges do need to make money.

 

Well, K-12 should be free, and public higher education should be subsidized as much as possible. Maybe they should use the Pell Grant as a benchmark. The cost for public higher education should not exceed the cost of what the maximum benefit of a Pell Grant is; that way, it ensures that a good higher education is available to all, regardless of economic status.

 

So if I don't have a GPA, they may still let me in as long as I pass all the necessary exams, and maintain a stable GPA while in college? That doesn't sound bad.

If they won't do that in a private college, I could just go to a community college first and use the grades from there, which I plan on doing anyway.

My mom says they'll make me take math classes to catch up, but I wouldn't mind doing that.

 

In Australia, university fees are delayed and are payed according to how much money your degree will entitle you to make. So legal students and medical students have higher fees than education students or art students, to pay later in life.

 

Pell grant only covers undergrad students. The maximum you can get from the pell grant is 5K a year, or 2.5K a semester.

 

I am going to have to disagree with the majority.

To preface my complete opinion, I will say that I am completely for the minimization of educational costs and the increase in support for grants, scholarships, and financial aid for those pursuing post-secondary education. With that being said, I don't believe that education being accessible to all must come as a result of the elimination of all cost. (Cost being the overall fees of a degree before the aid of grants, scholarships, and FA)

There are few people whom are bigger advocates of pursuing upper level education than me. I'm currently venturing on a likely total of nine years of post-secondary education for my degrees and my desired occupation requires none of them. Personally, I am just fascinated by the subjects and love education in general.

However, I don't believe that it is any governments job to fund my near decade academic adventure. I believe that there is a difference between making post-secondary education accessible to all and making it free. It is something that should be encouraged and made possible to all through various ways, but the point of receiving education that goes above and beyond what is necessary, from a financial point of view, is to meet a requirement or recommendation for a desired occupation that likely offers an income beyond what is necessary to provide oneself and family with what is financially necessarily in an economy. Paying for a degree is an understandable sacrifice when the fruits of that labor are higher occupational prospects.

Again, I am all for promoting leniency with how swiftly fees are expected to be paid after a students graduation and am against the currently increase in educational costs that has be occurring across the globe recently. I simply don't agree that all cost should be eliminated entirely.

 

I understand that. Simply put, states should dedicate more funds to their public institutions so that their tuition doesn't break the $2,500 mark per semester. When states cut funding to their public institutions, they have to make up for the shortfall through tuition hikes.

For example the University of Wyoming only costs residents $4,404 for a full year of two semesters at 15 credit hours each (this doesn't include book/living expenses/travel/ et al.)

With graduate education, public universities should maintain the same cost of attendance as for undergraduates. Even though the Pell Grant wouldn't cover that, it would still make quality graduate education more accessible.

Remember, I said we would use the Pell Grant as a benchmark.