Marco C.

The Price of Education

In a nation that is looking for development, great social progress, and equity between the
people, education is the key choice. How can we learn from our ancient mistakes, how can
we call ourselves better people if we have not studied? Knowledge and the ability to think is
what makes us different from all other animals, so by denying the people great possibilities
of studying, we are rather condemning them to a state of ignorance and bringing them to an
animal-like state: easily tamable and subjugable. Free education, together with adequate
support for students and their families, can lead to the creation of a class of very cultured
and brave people; adapt to solve problems, create new solutions, and modernize the current
structures. In a state where the people have not obtained any particular education, they
will only be able to live their life with the lacking capabilities that only allow them to
maintain themselves economically and be at someone else’s service. Education should also
not only be free and provided by the state, but it should truly be mandatory until the come
of age. Every minor, should receive enough time and knowledge to be truly certain about
his decision: whether he wants to pursue studying or approach the world of work
thereafter. Many people develop regrets after a long time of their life for not having
studied, for not having aimed for a more advanced study path. The only way to prevent this
is to provide the best and most reasonable way of thinking into the citizens, making them
truly know what education is about and how it will serve them and their family in the near
or distant future. The reason that makes me stand for the concept of free education is the
same that makes me prefer democracy to oligarchy: we are reserving great power and great
freedom only to a restricted amount of people. If we strongly put limits on education by
imposing high prices for good schools, we are without any doubt creating a strong
discrepancy between the families that can pay for their son and daughter’s tuition, and
those who cannot.
About textbooks
A brave nation, should allow great freedom when it comes to publishing books by the
people. The nation should avoid by any mean to force any specific brands and publishing
houses. There should be several textbooks regarding the same subject, this allows for
freedom of choice, a better amount of resources, and avoid obscure economical agreements
between privates: not following this could lead to control of information hence low quality of
knowledge.
A brave nation could also benefit greatly from investing its treasury into textbooks
themselves. This could be realized using “textbooks coupons” that students receive each
academic year and allow to obtain several books. Although it is important to value existing
books, and invest as much as possible into the market of used items; it is also important
that a nation is certain that the commonly used books in schools are not outdated; such
books could cause students to be behind in certain regions of the nation, or compared to
other nations.
About infrastructures
Infrastructures are one of the most important pieces of a educational system that is
working well. Students need to be comfortable, feel at ease and safe when they reach the
place to obtain knowledge. This means that the nation should invest a significant amount of
money to provide a proper place for its free education. Safe infrastructures, modern
equipment, tools, and happiness should be a key for any infrastructure.
How can we pretend a student will be motivated to study, even for free, inside a dark place?
Humans, especially during their early years, go through the most important formative
period of their life, and it is the nation’s duty to allow them to feel comfortable there, in
order to prevent social issues and school dropouts.
All schools should also have a few figures that are specialized and have studied ways to
help students with their studies concerns and with their personal issues; pedagogists and
psychologist are not a sign of a troubled system, they are rather the sign that the nation
cares for the health of its boys and girls.
About the price of teachers
Teachers should not be paid by the students directly, they should rather be government
employees paid by the citizens through taxation. This allows the nation to avoid dangerous
private systems that “steal” good teachers into their highly paid institutes, and allows a
better relationship between different economical classes. A very important fact is the
paycheck that teachers should receive: this sum must allow them to live a comfortable life
that makes them rewarded for their strong will to teach others and for the hard path of
studies that they have taken to teach. If we do not reward teachers for all of their skills
(which must be verified strictly), less of them will feel rewarded enough to teach others, and
the public knowledge will indeed lack in good amounts of professional and innovative
figures.
About possible prices of education
Although the previously stated points are very positive and functional, not all nations can
at any certain point afford to make all of these changes out of the sudden. The key is
patience and a long term project of reformations and changes that MUST not be abandoned.
Even if the changes can take few decades due to the required amounts of money and
physical interventions, they will lead in the long term to the better life. Some possible
prices system could work using a salary-fees ratio; each family would have to pay for their
children’s education only a specific amount of money that is proportional to their wealth
and would not be so severe to create reasons for debts or sacrifices of any kind.
About paid schools
All of what has been said before does not mean that a country cannot have private country.
However it should be expected that the nation has equally valid schools, both private and
paid. Expensive schools should be a minority that do not have major differences in the
quality of services and final students preparation. Private schools can differ in many ways
from public ones, and can grant some interesting paid services that are however not
forcefully essential to learning. A great example of benefits that a private school can
provide is custom learning international trips: these trips, although not fundamental, can
provide additional experience and knowledge to students. Students, in particular those who
are studying languages, can benefit from traveling abroad with school programs; but this is
expected to be a very expensive service that can be only guaranteed with greater amounts
of money.
Incentivizing Students

A great educational system not only should be free, it should also provide support for those
that have will to study but are subject to difficulties: economical or of other kinds.
However let it be clear that any possible rewards given to students will not be given
according to their academic performance: this can cause dissatisfaction and loss of will in
students that, for many reasons, haven’t achieved top performance in the evaluation
system. Assessment is a fundamental part of any school, it makes the teachers able to
determine whether the goals are being met by their students. It is impossible by nature of
human kind that all students are performing best in all available subjects, however each of
them should reach a sufficient level of comprehension. Having stated this fact, we can
analyze how and when should a student be rewarded for his work. A student should be
rather praised by teachers for his will and constancy in his homework and studies rather
than in the result of a single test. A great, costless, and practical solution that would
motivate students to perform better would be the following: one day of each week should
consist of a “facultative” lesson that aims to repeat previous topics, solve exercises, and fix
mistakes in students’ minds. However this facultative day should only be followed by
students that have performed poorly on a certain subject recently (this decision would need
to be taken globally and each type of school would require it to be the same in the entire
nation, avoiding “easier” institutes). This is not only a method to help students learn, and
revise their knowledge; it is also a method to make them more stimulated to perform well
in order to have a free day to do whatever they desire: let it even be studying new things by
themselves, or doing sports and fun activities with friends!