Should education be free?

We know that education isn’t only for teachers and students. It’s an institution, a group of people who interact with each other every day to achieve the same goal: coach our new generation. Definitely, the quantity and quality of education that the students receive depends on a big part of the countries’ government. I can explain what is happening in Argentina.
When I was a kid (a lot of years ago 😊) almost all educational institutions were public, and only a small percentage was private. Children who had the possibility to go to private school sometimes were part of the “upper-society”. The educational level that students received in private institutions was no different than public school education. Nevertheless, the education distance between private and public schools have increased year after year. Nowadays, the government doesn't invest in education as they should. Is it useful to have free education with a substandard level or a standard to an exceptional level of education paying tuition every month? Obviously, everyone wants the best education for their children, however, the immediate question is whether common people can pay tuition or not. The answer is no. The private school tuition is really expensive, so only a small group of people can afford it. What is your opinion about this? Tell me about your experience in your country, city, state, or province. Bye!

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val70 · 51-55

Well, many of today's best schools here in Belgium are still the Roman Catholic ones. Although I do think that it's only a legacy of past sacrifice by different people often religious types. Yes, I do mean nuns here for the best part of them. The issue here nowadays is that one doesn't like the religious bits at all but nevertheless like the air of a certain poshness about it. I wonder what great sacrifice most parents would do today for children's, let along their own children's education. Indeed, start off with that. Is there a real consensus about sharing instead of owing in your own surroundings? Do you think that the school or even the majority of teachers nowadays are and would still put children behind just because they are poor or just marginalized in some way?

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@val70 I don't think we can generalize about teachers. When I was a grade school child, most of my teachers were females, most had advanced degrees and today would probably not be teaching, but then they wanted to be home when their children came home. I don't blame women for leaving the field, but i do think the female work force improvements led to the decay in the level of sophistication of many teachers. The salaries of teachers has always trailed way behind. Pay isn't everything, but it certainly is a deterrent to quality educators.

On a pleasant note, my grandson wants to teach creative writing, etc., in the high school level, and coach lacrosse as well, in order to earn a better income. He is in all honors classes in college and really loves reaching.

val70 · 51-55

@samueltyler2 I don't think that you know the Belgian education system nor schools better than me, so I agree that you have a point saying that there are also nice things to report. However, I wish that you didn't say that I just generalized anything. It's not a magic spell and the trouble about isn't going to just disappear because of it. Today's society and the teachers coming to the fore today, well, are lacking so much so that whole experiment is going off its rails soon if there's no return to basics. No, it's not more pay nor anything else material but just the plain human trait of kindness. This needs to be seen more in the education system. Where are the teachers that are in it for the children's knowledge and overall advancement? Almost nowhere to be seen any more because standards are everywhere dropping because the general agreement is nowadays that one does need to level it out

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@val70 I guess that you didn't buy understand my statement. I NEVER said you generalized. I also never commented on your system. Reread what I wrote. I think you will see we agree in that, in general, education seems to have deteriorated.

val70 · 51-55

@samueltyler2 LOL... first you used "we can't generalize about" and then "I guess that you didn't understand"? Yes, I say, one can have a generalized opinion even about teachers, and I did understand what you wrote. And it's not about our system in the first place, but yes, I did start off my reaction by talking how ours fits into today's situation. Standards are slipping all over the world where social media is somehow getting much more important than just reality out on the playground. One sees it in how teachers need to be connected via the smartphone but don't even bother asking real questions to their students any more. A trouble child these days is just a troublling child. It used to be that there were many more teacher just taking those aside and asking what the troubles were in the first place. Thus one creates many more troubled adults for the future, and yes, it's that simple though generalized

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@val70 I have written many papers in my life, so tend to use the editorial "we." I see that ultimately you agreed with my comments.