Re: Should education be free?

Students get a loan which is paid to the university to cover the costs of the course, they get a grant to cover rent, food and any equipment needed, which doesn't, believe me! My youngest has had to find hundreds of pounds for kit before the course starts. The grants aren't paid out until weeks after the course starts. The government are talking about changing grants to loans. Next year will be the degree year which means a couple of thousand for kit and materials. Many students can't afford the final year so drop out before they get the degree. At college you can only do up to level 2 before you have to pay so some can't afford the full qualifications.
I had two family members who had free higher education, went overseas, made fortunes, came back to retire and get state pensions, heating allowances etc. Hardly fair is it?

Re: Should education be free?

All education should be paid for from taxation. I was fortunate enough to get my education when student grants were still available. I could never have afforded to go to university otherwise. Free health care and free education are the signs of a truly civilised society.

Re: Should education be free?

Well said!

Re: Should education be free?

I took my kids out of state schooling and paid, worth every penny.
The schools which were allocated were not very good so I wasn't happy with our options.
I was fortunate, I was able to do this.

My question would be
Should a good education be free.

Re: Should education be free?

Why did baby boomers do so well?
Because they were cherished and seen as the future. We need to realise that children, no matter who they are and what their backgrounds, are the people who we will rely on in the future.
If we don't, we'll regret it, imo.

Re: Should education be free?

When was that? Because I can't remember it.

Re: Should education be free?

Well, they are in their seventies now so quite a while ago.

Re: Should education be free?

I'm not far short of that, still can't remember it, but if it did happen it was a Labour Government at the time.

Re: Should education be free?

I can tell you from personal experience that primary and secondary education is a mess these days. There are some good schools and there are some bad schools.

The bad ones invariably suffer from children who don't want to learn or abide by the rules. This is reinforced by their parents who also are not interested in learning and who also won't abide by the rules. The bad children and parents do nothing but spoil the chances of the good ones.

Add to this, the situation where teachers have no authority these days, and the human rights and compo lawyers, and you have education in 21st century Britain.

Then we have tertiary education. The last Labour government decided, in their wisdom, that we should have 50% of all school leavers going to university. All the polys were converted into universities and both developed a plethora of mickey mouse degree courses.

Then the government decided that it can't actually afford to pay for 50% of school leavers to go to university, so repayable grants came along.

And don't talk to me about OFSTED!

What a mess!

Re: Should education be free?

All education should be good education. Unfortunately we have gone down some dead end educational roads in the UK. The destruction of the grammar school system was the first mistake. I came from a standard working class family - dad was a factory worker his whole life - but my two sisters and I all passed the 11+ and went to grammar schools where we got a much better education than our friends who were left behind in the secondary modern system. Unfortunately, when they got rid of the grammar schools, instead of bringing all the new comprehensives up to the level of the grammar schools, successive governments allowed standards to slip to such an extent that the vast majority of schools are now at secondary modern level or worse.