Why Post Secondary Education Should Be Free - Argumentative Essay

Introduction

Unemployment, homelessness and poverty are some of the nastiest aspects that spate our society. Meaningful ways on how to combat these problems should be looked upon. One likelihood of solving these plagues is through the betterment of the youth's education. We should ensure that our youths get educated. Each youth should be given equal prospects and options pertaining to education. Education offers good leadership qualities, independence, and equality among its citizens. The fastest emergent professions demand post-secondary education. Escalating costs of tuition put many people out of reach in post-secondary education. Thus, if our government wants to offer equal opportunity for all its citizens to fully exploit their careers and contribute towards the development of the American economy, they need to ensure that post-secondary education is more accessible and affordable to all students. Tressie McMillan and Bellei et al. in their articles offer contradicting arguments on our topic, "why post-secondary education should and shouldn't be free." I concur with Bellei et al. (108-123) that affirms why post-secondary education should be free to all students who have qualified. This paper therefore will be affirming why post-secondary education should be free.

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The high school diploma in our society is not sufficient to give citizens the required skills that will propel their careers to greater heights. It is projected that by the end of this decade, almost 66 percent of all job openings will need an educated fellow or skilled workers that is beyond the high school education (Bellei et al. 117). According to Bellei et al. (116), post-secondary education could provide our society with a high level of impartiality in the education system. The free education will receive from the higher levels of learning will benefit those constrained by the expensive bias system that is being applied now. Not all learners need to obtain scholarships that will fund their studies. Obtaining those scholarships is extremely difficult since they only aid a handful of students. Any prospect of free post-secondary education will offer students a clear conscious to focus and concentrate more on their studies. Bellei et al. (112) goes on to say that instead of them struggling to look for their tuition fee; they will as an alternative work towards their learning and attaining on content that pertains to their education. Since "knowledge is power," empowering the students with sufficient knowledge after their high school diploma will, in turn, help them achieve the power to read, learn and create an intellectual society.

According to Cottom (115), making post-secondary education to be free won't solve all the inequities and inequalities being witnessed in our societies. Cottom (117), claims that the cost associated with freeing post-secondary education is unattainable thus, unsustainable. He doesn't refute that more graduates equate to a better society. Making the post-secondary studies free is not appealing at all for the government. The government has appropriate options like to offer scholarships and student loans to needy students that will facilitate their post-secondary education. Giving students loans while studying and later deducting them after they are employed is an awesome way to help the students finish their studies and not for that case, pushing the government of the day to bankruptcy for trying to fund the free post-secondary education. Cottom (116) claims that making free secondary education for all the students will adversely affect the quality of education. Free post-secondary education will lead to more students joining tertiary institutions who will overwhelm the few lecturers available. With the overwhelming number of students in colleges will, in the long run, affect the motivation of lecturers who are poorly remunerated. Thus, according to Cottom (117), it is understandable and fair to claim that it is reasonable to offer both free primary and secondary education access as the basic skills acquired in these two levels of studies are obligatory for citizens to function efficiently within the community.

Knowledge and skills should not come at a price. We should never live in a society where few people are educated. The government instead spend more money on offering free tuition in the post-secondary education. If the government invests in the future of these youths, it is like it is investing in its prospects the many years down the lane. If post-secondary education is free, our poor youths will no longer pick between long hours of working as clerks in hospitals or restaurants while being lowly paid to finance their post-secondary education, hence, jeopardizing their capability to complete their courses in time.

Education is a right. An educated society helps to give its individuals the necessary tools that are essential in participating in their economic and social life development. An educated community benefits in almost all areas such as civic engagement, community development, health, and the economy at large. The magnitudes of Americans who have reported having an affirmative social outcome which ranges from trusting others, good health and volunteering in activities are those who have earned their post-secondary education.

Thus, to continue having this kind of benefits cultivated from one generation another, our government need to invest make our post-secondary education free. For instance, Los Angeles Community College District in Los Angeles invested heavily in free education to all its eligible students. All students in its nine campuses don't pay any tuition. Such a step has made created a huge difference in so many students' lives. I know that offering free post-secondary education is not easy, but L.A did join many more than twenty such programs in California's colleges. Hence, it is my belief that is such a state can put such a massive investment in post-secondary education for universal access to its students, then other states elsewhere should follow suit in such investment.

Conclusion

All in all, the government, of course, will require to make a considerable contribution to make the free post-secondary education be a success - the question that we should be asking ourselves if such financial funding will be a considerable burden. The financial burden does not outweigh the advantages that come with this investment. Hence it is an excellent investment. An increment in the number of citizens who are well educated will have a positive impact on the quality of the entire society. Hence, such positive enrichment in our society will be seen to worth and money well spent. It is a fact that the majority of the poor and the homeless populace in our nation are uneducated. Thus, the more the people receive the post-secondary educational opportunities, the lesser the poor and homeless people will be witnessed in our states. Free post-secondary education will create the same opportunities for all aspiring students irrespective the state of their financial situation. You can imagine a young man or lady with an excellent academic capability, but handicapped with a family's state of poor finances. Hence, his intelligence should not be held back, but rather the government should intervene by offering free post-secondary education.

Works Cited

Bellei, Cristian, and Cristian Cabalin. "Chilean Student Movements: Sustained Struggle to Transform a Market-Oriented Educational System." Current Issues in Comparative Education 15.2 (2013): 108-123.

Cottom, Tressie McMillan. "Why Free College Is Necessary". Dissent, vol 62, no. 4, 2015, pp. 115-117. Johns Hopkins University Press, doi:10.1353/dss.2015.0095.