Active Thinking Topic 80 - Should Higher Education Be Free?
31 March 2024
Any replies to the organizer
- thormay@yahoo.com
Venue: Zoom online
Recommended Viewing: BBC News (6 Jun 2015) "US students head to Germany for free degrees" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCtqHwjCPOQ
Talking Points
1. What is the opportunity cost of getting a TAFE Diploma, a BA/BSc, an MA/MSc or a PhD? What does the employment culture in various countries have to do with this?
2. In almost every job you learn to do a set of procedures and (maybe) are told a reason for following those procedures. Most students and also the general public expect a university to teach them the procedures and reasons attached to a particular job/profession . Is this enough? What other roles can a university offer?
3. What (if anything) should students pay to learn, and what should be free? Your reasons?
4. Once something is free, people often value it less. Is this a problem with free education? How can we encourage students to study hard if failure costs nothing?
5. People from poorer homes usually have a harder time getting good opportunities for advanced education. What are some handicaps they suffer besides lack of money? Should there be special assistance or scholarships for people from poorer backgrounds?
6. Some governments believe that free education to the highest level is a very good way to build "human capital" which will make the country rich. Some other governments believe that education should be a personal investment, not a public investment. What is your view? Why?
7. I first entered an Australian university in 1965, part-time (my government employer paid the fees). The emphasis was on academic excellence, both to get in and to graduate. There were very few international students. Now 30% of university students are international, paying high fees. What are some advantages and disadvantages of these two different models for universities?
8. Quite a few university students drop out of study before they graduate (maybe 30%). This also happens in TAFE programs. Has their education been wasted, or has the experience likely taught them some useful knowledge and skills? Examples?
9. Quite a few European countries offer free or almost free university education. They may even give free tuition to international students. Why do they do it? Why doesn't Australia do this?
10. How much time and money have you been willing to invest in higher education? What were your motives? Are you getting a good return on the investment?
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Extra reading & Viewing
Thor May (2014) "So we had a few failures. Was that the end of university?" @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/Access&FailureAtUniversity.htm [Quote: "The proper role of universities is endlessly debated. There are the competing demands of teaching and research, sources of funding, the shifting status of disciplines within the academy, and so on. Nothing is more contentious than who is suitable to be a university student. Should it be a matter of privilege, a question of sheer academic brilliance, an issue of national employment requirements, an attempt to offer the maximum opportunity to the maximum number of citizens … ? As with so many human questions, some fortunate individuals will benefit under almost any access regime. Difficult decisions arise at the margins, and the policy choices which are made there can have long term consequences. .. The source of this short document is intensely personal. It is the story of early university misadventure by one individual, myself. At first glance it might seem of little interest to anyone but the protagonist. I am publishing it because in fact pieces of this story fit the lives of so many students who simply disappear from the statistics and into oblivion."]
Rahamah (n.d.) "15 Tuition-Free Universities in Australia You Would Love" World Scholars Hub @ https://worldscholarshub.com/tuition-free-universities-in-australia/
Pola Lem (April 3, 2023) "Moscow’s Free University, branded ‘undesirable’ by Kremlin, closes doors - Academic council says safety of teachers and students a top concern after Kremlin puts institution on blacklist". Times Higher Education @ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/moscows-free-university-branded-undesirable-kremlin-closes-doors
Entire Education (5 Oct 2022) "10 FREE UNIVERSITIES IN FRANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS New Ranking" Entire Education @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8WIIP009HQk [no voice]
R247 Success (2 Jan 2024) "12 tuition-free universities in Europe for international students. The best universities in Europe. Free education in Europe. Full scholarships to universities in Europe. International scholarships in Europe.)" Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4X5ly0Ov-U
Miriah Davis (August 28, 2022) "Dan Andrews announces free university for thousands of nurses and midwives in Victoria as part of $270m scheme - Under the $270 million scheme, students completing undergraduate study in nursing or midwifery either in 2023 and 2024 will receive a scholarship of up to $16,500." Sky News @ https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/dan-andrews-announces-free-university-for-thousands-of-nurses-and-midwives-in-victoria-as-part-of-270m-scheme/news-story/7547411c4fea17a1315079d673f4546b
Illustrate to Educate (8 Jun 2020) "Should Public College be Tuition Free? | What are the Pros and Cons of Tuition-Free College?" Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_iLOlaf1FoY
Thor May (2014) "The Purpose of Education - a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy? - Is education most commonly treated purely as an instrumental tool (e.g. to get a job), or as a path to self-development, or both? How can a balance between objectives be achieved in public education?". The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/EducationPurpose_Hitchhiker.htm
Nick Gillespie (28 Mar 2024) "What went wrong at Harvard | Steven Pinker" Reason TV @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68yPG9ir4BQ [Thor, comment: This is a long interview, but has a lot of useful things to say about allowing a diversity of ideas amongst both students and faculty in universities. I've been a (non-senior!) university faculty member in 7 countries, as well as writing a PhD dissertation on what in fact does go wrong in universities, and tertiary education generally]
Thor May (2010) Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Thesis topic : "Language Tangle : Predicting and Facilitating Outcomes in Language Education". http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/804346 OR republished as "Teaching Productivity and Its Enemies" @ https://www.academia.edu/1788812/Teaching_Productivity_and_Its_Enemies
Thor May (2012) "Hidden Boundaries: – A Joint-Venture Education Program in China". The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/lxesl/HIddenBoundaries.html
[Quote: : "This review is a post-mortem of an education joint-venture between an Australian college and a Chinese college in central China at the three year mark*. It has lessons for policy, management, teaching and learning. The focus is on foreign language teaching, but most of the elements also apply to other fields of study".]
Thor May (1997) "The De-Skilling of 100,000 Skilled Tradesmen + Seven Years Later - see the linked attachment (2004)". The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/politics/trades2.html [Thor, comment: As of now, 2024, Australia has a large deficit of skilled workers. Bluntly, that is by deliberate design built into the past political policies of state and federal governments, particularly that of prime minister John Howard at the time of this letter. Briefly, it was/is considered expensive by the Australian business community to train local talent, and smart to import already skilled immigrants as a substitute. Conservative political forces at the time also considered trades workers to be natural allies of the Australian Labor Party, and hence potential political 'enemies'. In the following years TAFE institutions were gutted of resources. ... This document was sent to the following Australian political leaders: The Hon. John Howard, Prime Minister ( reply from A. Greer, 1st Asst. Secretary, VET Division, DEETYA 3/10/97); The Hon. Kim Beazley, Leader of the Opposition (reply from Kim Beazley 29/8/97 & reply from Martin Ferguson 29/9/97); The Hon. Jeffrey Kennett, Premier of Victoria (reply from Phil Honeywood 18/9/97 - Victorian Minister for Tertiary Education & Training); The Hon. John Brumby, Leader of the Victorian State Opposition (reply from John Brumby 18/8/97); The Hon. Cheryl Kernot, Leader of the Australian Democrats Party ]
Jason Clare (25 Feb 2024 ) “More kids from the outer suburbs getting a crack” | Insiders
ABC News (Australia) @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZCgQafW1tc
Sabine Hossenfelder (6 Apr 2024) "Why Academia Sucks - My dream died, and now I'm here on Youtube". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKiBlGDfRU8 [Thor, comment: Most people go to university to get a diploma which will help them to find a job. A very small minority go to university to explore and develop new ideas. That tiny minority have given us modern civilization with all its wonders. However these researchers are exploited by institutions seeking money, and real research is often blocked. Sabine eloquently explains how this university system of exploitation killed her dream. I've been down this track myself .. ]
Four Corners (2020) "Cash Cows: Australian universities making billions out of international students - Four Corners investigates how Australia's higher education system is being undermined by a growing reliance on foreign fee-paying students.". ABC News In-depth @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm6lWJc8KmE [46 minutes]
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Should Higher Education Be Free? (c) Thor May 2024