Is Free Education good?
Conceptually speaking, pricing should have nothing to do with Education as far as somebody (government / philanthropists) is willing to foot the bill. However, in practice, I believe that schools should not offer “free education” as an incentive to study. It sends a wrong signal to the society as a whole. If a family cannot afford to pay for teaching their children, then enable them to earn more and afford their family expenses like children education. Their are government schemes like NREGA, that practically insure employment to rural poor. We need to teach rural India the concept of paying for basic services, instead of expecting them to be dolled out in a platter as a right.
I have more specific reasons to insist on dissuading free education based on my own experience in rural India.
In general perception (very true for Rural India) the things which come free are not always of good quality. When a villager works hard to get something, the perceived value attached to the achievement also increases. This is very critical aspect for Education in Rural India, where many parents do not even know the location of their children’s school. Some critical values attributable to “Paid Education” include
- Every self respecting parent shall work towards the education of the child, and hence take a sense of responsibility to monitor their wards progress.
- Paying for education, compels parents to evaluate the “Value for Money” by checking on children and school alike. It acts like a self-reinforcement for children and also a natural check on school management to deliver quality services.
- It is imperative to develop schools on sustainable basis, to be able to provide quality education through well trained teachers
While I can see where you are coming from when you say things that you "pay" for are more valuable to you, and so you nurture them more (in this case education), I would be interesting in knowing your thoughts about the free education models adopted world-wide. There are a lot of countries that have free education, so:
ReplyDelete- Do you think they are a failure too? Perhaps they are.
- If not, then what are the other factors that make them successful which are not being replicated in rural India?
Nice write up, but I would love to discuss this a bit more, so waiting for your reply on my questions.
This is a good kick off topic. I have given this some thought too. There are several different aspects to it. The main one I agree with you is that if you get something for free you do not value it compared to something that you earn. But that is not the only reason why they should pay for this education. I feel to provide quality education it needs to be self sustainable. I also feel that parents should not be the only ones that pay for the educations of their kids.
ReplyDeleteSo here the model that I personally like
- Free primary education (basic reading and writing)
- Nominal cost for middle school that probably the parent would pay
- Loan based education beyond a certain point that the students would repay. They can do this after they get a job or do a job on the side.
I really feel that the student should value what they learn. And if they think they are better off without that education, it is their decision.
College education in the US is extremely expensive and it mostly works with student loans. I have seen how hard they work and how much they value their education. I was a little ashamed on how I took my premier education for granted.
I also feel that once the first few batches graduate and do well, you might even build strong Alumni who might do more than just pay off their loans....