In Quebec, the youth of the liberal party had a congress during the weekend where they discussed how Quebec’s universities had low tuition fees and how that should be raised from $2000 to $6000 through post-school taxes in order to not burden the students with debts on the spot, and one of their main argument for that was to claim that it was the national average fees. Our universities do need more budgets but I cannot accept to see more picked within the pockets of the students. If it doesn’t work elsewhere, why would it work here?
In fact, a study was done in Ontario in the early 90’s where 17.3% of the Medicine school population came from low income families. During the four years of the study, the tuition fees went from $4000 to $10 000. Once they hit the $10 000, it was noted that only 7,7% of the remaining students came from low income families. It went down of more than 50%!
Of course, you keep hearing how the price of tuition fees has no impact on the student population and they claim that the numbers, no matter from which study if it does point in the same direction as those against the raise, are inaccurate and rely on urban legends! Where is the logic, I do wonder.
One of the other things I’ve read was about how education is a right, but free education isn’t. The difference is that low income students must be able to have financial help (loans) to keep on studying. While this is…a good thing in itself considering the current situation, how is it of any help to get out of school, crippled by debts and stressing out because the job you studied for doesn’t allow you to earn that much money, or you can’t find a job in what you’ve studied so you have to work in a Wal-Mart to live? The incomes are too low, you can’t pay back and from there, only stress and worries haunt your life. There is no power of purchase in these cases and they aren’t isolated. It’s just sad and inadmissible to accept that our youth destroy their life for something that should be free. Knowledge.
The system is well-done, I admit. You can’t have the job because you don’t have the diploma. You can’t have the job because you have too many diplomas. You can’t have the diploma because you don’t have the money. You don’t have the money because you don’t have diplomas. That’s how poor remain poor, in knowledge like in wealth. Many study on their own, and are doing quite well at self-education but why can’t they just pass a test and obtain the diploma, without spending thousands of dollars in university?
Why do we need huge universities with the last technology? Knowledge in itself can be found in books, remains in brains, in people. Not everything can be taught in school and most start with the experience of life. I would be really happy to attend a town class, where they would teach me about something I’m interested in… It could be held in a crappy local too, with just a board or a piece of paper to give a visual aspect to those who are more visual than the other.
Knowledge is a gift, discoveries: a blessing. All that should be shared freely to educate others and everyone. Share what we know so we discover even more. We should all be allowed to choose the tools of our future, without having a sign of dollar attached to it. Free market I can deal with to some extend…very little extend, but you can’t put prices on everything. Not on lives, not on knowledge.
Their reasoning is simple, less people understand what we are doing, and less people are going to react to it. That way, we, in the end, get more and more freedom to execute our plans.
So when are we starting those underground faculties? Let’s educate ourselves since the Elite refuses to allow us to learn without making tons of money off our backs! While at it…let’s start our own companies: where we will offer good jobs to people from underground faculties…WE will recognize the knowledge no matter who teaches it; be it you, me or them.
- Sabbi
