The Importance of Lowering Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are destroying the ability for the educational advancement of mass society, and it is precisely this mass of educational advancement that must be achieved. This advancement is crucial for the creation of a society which is aware of its inherent problems and is also better able to deal with them. As the govern- ment's ignorance towards this phenomena continues to exist, so too does the problem of an under-educated mass majority, which consequently results in social dependence upon such an ignorant and centralized hierarchy.

Furthermore, in creating such a thoroughly educated populace, not only does the capacity for social advancement improve, but the ability to further future economic business also improves - the very issue our government finds as an excuse not to fund the coming new generation of leaders; with the higher number of individuals possessing a higher education, sustained economic growth is produced due to the conse- quent creation of more jobs. In the long run, however you look at it - be it socially, economically, or otherwise - education is going to act as a progressive lubricant in social and cultural matters, and most importantly, in independent thought, which is an important aspect of democracy.

What happens when lubricant runs out? Grind! Halt! Seize! The govern- ment makes all the decisions while the populace is without the proper analytical skills necessary to effectively criticize. Does our government rely on some sort of Platonic idea about the nature of education and ignorance?

Another important effect of the lowering of tuition fees is that of poverty. When the lower classes of society are barred from the education - which, suppos- edly, everyone is equally entitled to - the result is the upholding of the status quo. This means that those living in poverty remain in poverty, while those in power

get to hold on to that power. Not only does this occur, but as the rates of tuition fees con- tinue their

deadly rise, the gap

between the rich and the poor, the power- less and the powerful, continues to grow.

As we look at this phenomena, a very interesting question arises, though not a new one; is the government, in reality, ignorant to all of this, or are those in power simply trying to climb higher (or at least hold on to their coveted positions)? Perhaps we can look at the situation(s) abroad as an example of the way that the more powerful and self-interested govern- ments hold on to the status quo of their own economies and countries - or is this all just a big myth? Think about it: what happens when these two last phenomena occur simultaneously?

An interesting and perhaps enlightening little piece of information lies within votes and the political sys- tem itself. As the majority of the pop- ulation is not at one time enrolled in secondary education, there are no immediate benefits to be gained by the majority of the populace as a result of spending on higher edu- cation, and it is

important to recognize the specific use of the word ‘immediate’ in this last statement. The primary reason secondary education shows no immediate benefit to society as a whole is due to the amount of time it takes for such an education to be completed and applied. This is no short period of time, but rather, a period of time in which the benefits become more notice- able over the years. This occurrence would create a strengthening of the capabilities of each individual within our society, rather than a select few who end as the elite gov- ernors for those who haven't had the same opportunities. As we have seen above, the concept of democracy is thus effected.

As our politicians are in need of votes in order to further their career, edu- cation is not an area deemed worthy of spending, and this is a phenomena that has been repeated over and over again throughout the years. As spending on edu- cation takes a prolonged amount of time to produce a noticeable amount of social beneficence, and as the majority of the populace is not involved in secondary edu- cation, such spending by government looks like a waste of money to the public; now this money cannot be spent on something from which the public might immediately benefit and therefore take note.

When Socrates was accused of a the yeu around him,

ent to as death by those in | power

To show just one example of such immediately beneficial- and much more noticeable- spending might be found in looking at the reparation of Island road- ways. In the end, if the public notices no immediate benefits, the politician or party involved may lose votes, and this is exact- ly what the politicians involved do not want. It may be helpful to add that by the time the rest of the community notices the important benefits from this spending on education, the politicians involved will most likely be replaced by others, which results in not benefiting that politi- cian's career who had spent the money in the first place. In short, much of the prob-

Travel The Worid & Get Paid to:

Teach English Overseas! |

Get Certified with the Best...15,000 Grads

Call for Nearest Location