Should Education Be Free for Everyone? - Argumentative Essay

Introduction

What is education? The great B.B King said that the best thing about pedagogy is that once you get it, no one can take it away from you. Teaching is primarily the acquiring of wisdom, prowess, moral principles, opinions and habits. The educational modus operandi encompasses thing like directed research, the narration of stories, debating, drilling and tutelage. The United Nations organization recognized education as a fundamental right for every human being. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that "every person has the right to schooling". In the majority of the countries of the world, education is a requirement of the law up to a specific age. ("The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights").The great Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013) a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, peace activist, and philanthropist said that to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. Education is essential in the progress of human beings. It opens doors of opportunity and broadens the freedom of human beings. Education assists in enhancing peace, fostering the rule of law, financial growth as well as reducing poverty and improving health. ("International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights") Why should education be free for everyone?

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In the past years, education was mostly for the bourgeoisie in the community. Edification was meant to be a luxury and often time's luxuries are only enjoyed by the rich and powerful in society. Over the years the need of people to be educated became great. This need was influenced by things like the industrial revelation where skillful labor was much needed. The result of this was that education became easily accessible and created equality. Equality was established because it did not matter which gender you are, or race or rich or poor. However, schooling is still not affordable to all. There are many students who are endeavoring with tuition. Maybe one of the people struggling with fees has the cure for a terminal disease like cancer but, they are beaten by a system that favors the rich. Giving bright students scholarships may solve the problem but it does not take into account the fact that not every leaner has the chance of securing a grant. In most instances, the scholarship system is also rigged. When education is free for all every leaner in society is guaranteed an education. Free education means everyone gets an equal opportunity to get an education.

Education should not be free because this would lead to the rise of the SAT scores for which students can enter college. The quality of the resources in the institution will be diminished or even depleted due to the high numbers of students utilizing them. Another reason offered by advocates for education not being free is that it leads to the devaluation of a degree certificate. When learning becomes free, this will ultimately lead to leaners caring less about the course. The society is used to get their monies worth, but since the students are not paying tuition fees, they develop a bad attitude. (DAHLBECK 725)

Another reason against free education is that learners that are more economically stable will end up benefiting more than the poor leaners. Financially stable learners are able to benefit because free education only applies to payment of school fees but not living expenses. Thus people from poor background though they are leaning they still have difficulty in focusing on their studies due to lack of personal effects. Financially stale students can afford to buy themselves meals and even get places near the leaning institutions. The student's body will automatically rise due to free education for everyone. The result of this will be a rise in the taxes paid by the citizens for the government to meet the costs of running a free education system. These arguments should not instill fear that giving free education to everyone is bad for the society since countries like Germany have successfully offered free teaching to its citizens. The system that is in place in that country seems to be working with minimal disturbances.

For the sake of humanity, education should be made free for everyone. The acquisition of knowledge which has been passed down from generation to generation should not come at a price. Thus let me start by asking the question would you preferably have a few persons educated thereby having the government spend no money or permit the state spend money on education of its people as a result of that investing in its future and have a booming economy because of the educated people? In the society, today indoctrination is seen as a privilege rather than a right. Not every person in the community can afford the privileged of andragogy, and the way education is at the moment fewer persons can afford it. The student's aid money that is given does not meet the ever-rising cost of living and thus students are put into debts. (Johnson 60)

Learners should not only have free tutelage, but the government should ensure that they are getting paid for it. Paying students for leaning will be good to help the students in focusing on their studies alone rather than have to worry about personal utilities among other things. The students will not be concerned with tuition fees, and also, they will get monthly stipends. With education being free and students getting paid, every person will get an education despite their economic situation or their cultural background. Poor leaners will no longer have to seek employment in their extra time to help in the financing of their education. The search for employment often interrupts with their inculcation by affecting their ability to perform well and hinders concentration in their studies. These poor leaners finally end up with debts that they cannot pay and with no certificate to show for their education.

Conclusion

Students should not fear to take the courses that they are passionate about for fear of not meeting the financial requirements required of the programs. Some persons are naturally born computer geniuses but because of the high cost of engineering programs the society misses out on another Bill Gates or another sir frank whittle. ("Sir Frank Whittle Inducted Into GE (USA) Hall Of Fame"). Dissociating from other theories, persons have a high chance of getting employment and a formal job if they are learned. This means they have access to things which make their lives much better. In conclusion, if someone from a poor background gets educated, that person as a high chance of breaking the poverty cycle. If the society educates more human beings, human beings will become considerate, dependable, accountable, and self-sufficient. This will be the times we are looking forward to. The famous Mahatma Gandhi of India said that we should live as if we were to perish the next day and learn as if we are going to exist forever.

Work Cited

Arrese Igor, Hector Oscar. "The Right to Education in the Fichtean Theory of Natural Right". The Philosophical Forum, vol 46, no. 4, 2015, pp. 403-420. Wiley, doi:10.1111/phil.12086.

DAHLBECK, JOHAN. "Education and the Free Will Problem: A Spinozist Contribution". Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol 51, no. 4, 2017, pp. 725-743. Wiley, doi:10.1111/1467-9752.12271.

Johnson, Andrew. "Is Free Education Really Free?" Pitt Political Review, vol 11, no. 2, 2017, pp. 57-65. University Library System, University Of Pittsburgh, doi:10.5195/ppr.2015.62

Nandekar, Ujwal Prabhakar. "Right to Education and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009". SSRN Electronic Journal, 2009. Elsevier BV, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2271976