Is Free Education A Synonym For Equality?

[EJLarson]

One of the reasons why humans group up, pay taxes and choose governments is that they can achieve greater goals when everybody contributes with their taxes. One of these goals is security, my guess and wish is that healthcare, education and housing are also goals for everybody living in society. A big % of the population in many places has no idea where money comes from or where it goes, this is due to poor high school education.

Maybe I communicated badly or possibly it's just mindsets, but my point wasn't whether taxpayer-funded endeavors are good or bad. Some I approve of, some not, but that's irrelevant in context. What I object to - and always will - is the use of the word "free." It's free to those who use it - but very much not free to those who pay. Clear now?

 

[Noesdeayer]

EJLarson .
It's crystal clear to me Ed To call it "free" is a misnomer:almost hoodwinking,in my view.
nikad.: Right you are "bad educashun" as Cristina might put ot. Also a very heavy dose of Peronist demogogery to make the masses believe that it comes directly from their good graces.

 

[nikad]

Maybe I communicated badly or possibly it's just mindsets, but my point wasn't whether taxpayer-funded endeavors are good or bad. Some I approve of, some not, but that's irrelevant in context. What I object to - and always will - is the use of the word "free." It's free to those who use it - but very much not free to those who pay. Clear now?

I totally agree, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

 

[clooz]

We provide public funding for primary and secondary education, not to make life easier for parents or politicians but to protect children from exploitation. Child labour worldwide is not declining. We know from experience that if children are left unprotected that they are always exploited by commerce, by the church, and by the state. In concert with child labour laws, the public school system's primary purpose is to provide safe care for all primary and secondary age school children. In part we are protecting them from their family's need for them to work. This is the only alternative to work from age 5 today in much of the world. This is not free to children - their families have the opportunity costs and external costs of attendance or non-attendance to cover, and often children go to work instead of attending free schools because of these costs.

To afford equal base-level protection to *all* children, affordable schools and child labour laws have to work. The conversion of schools as a public good and service to a private commercialized good while not accounting for external costs and opportunity costs destroys affordability. Was the destruction of affordable education in the US the political motive of Reagan in the 60's or the GOP more recently? Reagan started with tertiary education then moved on to defund all education. Is that the motive of the cited article?

 

[Noesdeayer]

Another Time .
While it obviouly had universal applications,the article I mentioned taken from La Nacion daily had principally to do with Argentina itself.
Here while the government provides state supported primary,secondary and university education the funding is almost entirely federal which makes for an akward and overly dependent reliance on the central government.
Moreover,due to a traditionally high percentage of income tax evasion here which is only recently changing it makes for a heavy dependence on VAT and other forms of federal levies.
Public Health is also funded in a simiar way So what many times happens is that you have a lot of people using these public services who are indeed needy and others who enjoy them without having paid any taxes at all in spite of being able to do so.
In Colombia and Chile,similar people who are in an affordable position must show an income tax return to prove that they should not have to pay any additional fee to use these services thus leaving those who are really not able to pay able to use them free of charge.
That was basically the thrust of the article and my purpose in initiating this thread.