Actually, education has nothing to do with government at all.

By the way, you dont need to have an education to know how to do something. A degree is nothing more then a piece of paper that tells a business that you have the capibility to learn something that is presented to you. I know plenty of people who never went to college and is making more then me and inventing things that I couldnt possibly fathom. So this idea that education, government education, is a necessity is a down right fib.

Like I said, lets sit on our duffs and just quit working. Let the government do everything for us. I mean if we are going to say education should be free and paid for, then why cant my car, house, computer, or any other thing we deem a necessity in life to be the government's job to provide it for us? Afterall, in order to do homework we need a roof over our heads. A computer is going to be needed in order to do claswork and research. We need cars so we can get to and from school. We have to eat, so we need cars to take us to the store and buy clothes.

Why not just completely hand over 100% of our paychecks and be merry about it?

This is getting completely insane here.

Several good posts. A degree ican be very good in some fields and less so in others. It depends on what the degree is in.

Of course personal experiences are anecdotal but there are lessons that can be learned so I will share mine.

I spent my first two years going to a community college. They are relatively inexpensive although I would make sure that the credits are transferrable (they typically are to the state colleges and university but may not be to out of state colleges and universities). Then I went to the state college and not the state university. Much cheaper and it was closer to home. If money is an issue don't even consider an out of state college or university. It took me three years at the college instead of two because I had to work and didn't carry a full load of credits. Tailor your employment to accommodate your college schedule. In my case I worked at a private Christian school as the janitor which was a night job and didn't have my first class until 10:00 AM so I got enough sleep.

They didn't have student loans but I didn't need one. I lived cheap renting a room instead of an apartment managed to get by. It can still be done today but a person needs to plan ahead, work hard, and make it happen because while you think going to college is tough wait until later when you're balancing a career and a family.

I don't agree with this idea that the impact on society isn't that great.

For instance you are likely to earn 400,000, over a lifetime, more as a University Graduate then not in the UK, according to Government figures. If you take the standard 35% cut of the UK Government, you arrive at a figure of 140,000 extra tax paid by that individual. Given a cost of about 30k for the education, which is at the very extreme end of the cost, this person would pay for his own education plus the education of 3 more people, and a little extra, and all the tax a non-university person paid, plus he would have more money going into the economy to keep it healthy.

I would also say that this is a major problem with both the UK and the US. We both have really appalling education systems. We just are not willing to put the money where it needs to be. We are not willing to make the tough choices when it comes to education.

We both have terrible apathy with our youth, raising violent crime, massive prison populations. We both have terrible endemic crime and poverty. In our country I know we have what we term 'generational unemplyed' people whose parents have never worked, their grandparents have never worked, they have never worked and they don't expect their children to work.

We clearly don't put enough store in education and it is reflected in our populations. Instead of facing the larger issue, we instead spend far more then we would need to on raising education standards, on crime prevention, welfare costs, policing and prison etc etc.

We could take a fraction of the amount budgeted to deal with these issues and direct it towards free education.

Though I really do think at least in the UK that the people running our education system need to be removed and we need a new order in our education system as the current system is appalling. It isn't about tweaking it here or there, it is about dismantling completely our education system and recreating it to be better then it is right now.

Your sacrifice shouldn't be casted upon others. Let’s abolish paying for college and instead take the time of the kids that really want it. By giving opportunities to do volunteer work and if they earn enough hours they earn that right. It would show who is determined to work for there education, because working while going to school is crazy. That is why I joined the Army to get my education.

__________________
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." ~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Salute the smiling faces of the 21st Century." ~ Daisaku Ikeda

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

Our education system is totally different from the US of the UK.
Education is a regional matter in Belgium, so it is in the hands of the Flemish and Walloon Region.
I have to say that if the Flemish Governement didn't gave me a scolarship or when they didn't subsidize our universities I probably wasn't able to go to college because my mother is a single parent.
The motto of the governement is: "Everyone should have the same chances".
Everybody pays for it, but also everyone benefits from it...
Our highschoolsystem is probably confusing for Americans but it all comes down to this...every school has to accept every student, everybody gets money (public, catholic, jewish) and they all have the same curricullum.
If you look to the statistics it works, because the Flemish highschool education system is one of the best in the world...

If you get a scolarship you have to pay €80 to enter college, if you almost get a scolarship (it's calculated on the income of your parents, how much childeren do they have,...) you have to pay €250 and if you don't get one you have to pay €500...Then you only have to pay for your books (€300).

It works!

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"Nos pays sont devenus trop petits pour le monde actuel, à l'échelle des moyens techniques modernes, à la mesure de l'Amérique et de la Russie aujourd'hui, de la Chine et de l'Inde demain. L'unité des peuples européens réunis dans les Etats-Unis d'Europe est le moyen de relever leur niveau de vie et de maintenir la paix. Elle est le grand espoir et la chance de notre époque. Nous aussi, nous allons vers notre but, les Etats-Unis d'Europe, dans une course sans retour."

Jean Monnet

Thank you I like seeing peoples insights from different nations.

__________________
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." ~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Salute the smiling faces of the 21st Century." ~ Daisaku Ikeda

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

On this again. Say if I was a slave and I had to work to be free, would it be right that the government changes the system so the future can be free? Just something to think about, just because you had it hard doesn't mean others have to.

__________________
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." ~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Salute the smiling faces of the 21st Century." ~ Daisaku Ikeda

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

Personally, I think that in some ways the US is over educating its population, or not putting its resources to maximum yield. I think that education should be shorter and more intense, getting people to work at 20 or 21 rather than 24-25. I'm currently enrolled in a teaching program, and in order to become certified I have to go through at least 5 years of education. I have often asked myself whether it would be possible to get that education in 3 years. Not only would this cut down the costs, but get people working quicker. It would also make school more affordable for many.

Also, we need more electricians and plumbers, people that work with their hands, and less service industry jobs.

__________________
"If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil"
-Winston Churchill

"It is dangerous to be right on matters where the established authority is wrong."
-Voltaire

I like this quote a lot!

Very wise.

__________________
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love." ~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Salute the smiling faces of the 21st Century." ~ Daisaku Ikeda

"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." ~ Mohandas Gandhi

i am in NO WAY paying for some lazy bum to go to school for 4-10 years to get an ART DEGREE so that he/she can work in starbucks their entire life and paint all day like a kindergartener.

quit whining, cut your hair, and get a job you good for nothing hippies!