I wouldn't agree with totally free, but I would absolutely agree with heavily, heavily subsidized. The cost should be enough that anyone could afford it working over the summer in a job a student could get, so kids can work put themselves through school with minimal help from parents besides food and shelter. Without ensuring that students have some skin in the game, I think a system would end up clogged up with people who don't really want to be there or people who don't have the aptitude for the courses they've taken.
Such subsidized systems exist in a few countries, and allow people to achieve post-secondary education without ending their lives due to crippling debt if they don't succeed in school or don't succeed in getting a decent job after school, or if they do succeed but school prices just went too crazy.
Such subsidized systems exist in a few countries, and allow people to achieve post-secondary education without ending their lives due to crippling debt if they don't succeed in school or don't succeed in getting a decent job after school, or if they do succeed but school prices just went too crazy.
I'm not really saying high fees. A couple grand for a semester or even a year would be plenty to keep people who just don't care out. They could spend that kind of money on a lot of fun stuff or as a deposit on their own place or any one of a bunch of things. Perhaps even end any public student loan programs since we know they only serve to drive up prices and fund an administrative class that doesn't add any value to an education.
When I went to school, we started with 8 classes of 45 students. 3/4 of them were gone by the end of the first semester. Being able to have a "cooldown period" where you can pull the funds out and drop out if you realize you're not going to be able to do anything would make sense. Even if it meant more funding up-front, it could help people who aren't going to make it jump ship faster.
The schools cry poor, but if you run the numbers (including massive government subsidies per-student) it quickly becomes clear someone other than the teacher is getting rich.
When I went to school, we started with 8 classes of 45 students. 3/4 of them were gone by the end of the first semester. Being able to have a "cooldown period" where you can pull the funds out and drop out if you realize you're not going to be able to do anything would make sense. Even if it meant more funding up-front, it could help people who aren't going to make it jump ship faster.
The schools cry poor, but if you run the numbers (including massive government subsidies per-student) it quickly becomes clear someone other than the teacher is getting rich.
My goodness, I totally agree with this point in many regards.
The writers of textbooks basically don't make any money off of it, it's just the prestige or the possibility of making the course materials you want for the program you want to teach. People authoring papers for journals definitely don't get paid and will pay out of pocket preparing an article.
That being the case, there's no reasonable excuse for the textbooks costing $100. Amazon is one example of an on-demand printer, and I can order a new copy of my book today and have it in my hands by next Friday. Yes, Amazon is Amazon, and my book isn't quite on the same level as a school textbook in many ways including size, color print quality, and length, but even compensating for those differences, you could buy your entire year's schoolbooks for the cost of a couple of the insane overpriced garbage that is sometimes but not always available from the college bookstore.
Another thing I strongly believe is that the culture needs to change around journal articles. You read the articles and it's pretty clear even if you have an understanding of the source material that they complicate the material for no good reason. Often it's obvious people use a 22 letter word where two or three 6 letter words would be better choices. The only conclusion I can come to is people are trying to prove how smart they are with their language rather than the work they're doing. That ends up siloing research such that even if you're a practicioner in the field, you pretty much need the most expensive education just to get the mental thesaurus to convert the 22 letter words to 6 letter words in your head.
The writers of textbooks basically don't make any money off of it, it's just the prestige or the possibility of making the course materials you want for the program you want to teach. People authoring papers for journals definitely don't get paid and will pay out of pocket preparing an article.
That being the case, there's no reasonable excuse for the textbooks costing $100. Amazon is one example of an on-demand printer, and I can order a new copy of my book today and have it in my hands by next Friday. Yes, Amazon is Amazon, and my book isn't quite on the same level as a school textbook in many ways including size, color print quality, and length, but even compensating for those differences, you could buy your entire year's schoolbooks for the cost of a couple of the insane overpriced garbage that is sometimes but not always available from the college bookstore.
Another thing I strongly believe is that the culture needs to change around journal articles. You read the articles and it's pretty clear even if you have an understanding of the source material that they complicate the material for no good reason. Often it's obvious people use a 22 letter word where two or three 6 letter words would be better choices. The only conclusion I can come to is people are trying to prove how smart they are with their language rather than the work they're doing. That ends up siloing research such that even if you're a practicioner in the field, you pretty much need the most expensive education just to get the mental thesaurus to convert the 22 letter words to 6 letter words in your head.
Tbh, the thing the west needs more than schools (not that it doesn't need those, but bear with me) is entry level jobs that turn unskilled workers or workers with some education into skilled workers.
Companies cry crocodile tears for skilled workers but don't do this, so what are they actually crying for? It's obvious to me what they actually want.
Companies cry crocodile tears for skilled workers but don't do this, so what are they actually crying for? It's obvious to me what they actually want.
Corporations infiltrating schools to an extent isn't a conspiracy or even controversial. Many schools are proud of its connections to the industries it will be sending students into.
I know in our local course for my field, there's a class that sticks out like a sore thumb, because it's not even part of the core competencies, but it's 10 times harder than anything around it, and it creates lots of students who can't proceed because they can't get that course.
I know in our local course for my field, there's a class that sticks out like a sore thumb, because it's not even part of the core competencies, but it's 10 times harder than anything around it, and it creates lots of students who can't proceed because they can't get that course.
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