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College in Poland is free and there are options for very limited stipends which can sustain you (albeit on a poverty level). That did lift me from a poor, but e
by fijal 11y ago
College in Poland is free and there are options for very limited stipends which can sustain you (albeit on a poverty level). That did lift me from a poor, but educated, family into the world of computer software and a relatively successful career it seems. As it did for countless of my peers.
Please don't discount free education as "not changing much", in the US I would be probably working at Mc Donalds or dealing crack and in jail.
- tptacek 11y agoI'm not opposed to free education. I'm certain free education is better than $150k education. But gating stable employment on 4-year degrees is problematic for reasons other than tuition costs, and, equally important to this thread, startups probably can't make college free, but they might be able to replace college for a pretty big set of white collar jobs.
- fijal 11y agosorry, misunderstood you, apologies.
- fscherer 11y agoI think colleges should educate people and not only train them for a job. This is only really viable with free education and much harder to do with the alternatives which are discussed right now.
- waterlesscloud 11y agoSure, but training them for an economically viable life is certainly higher priority than a so-called well-rounded education.
- jacobush 11y agoI agree, otherwise the proles might become too uppity.
- fscherer 11y agoProbably yes but I feel that general education is, especially in this community, a little undervalued. Democracy fundamentally depends on its population being educated and in more ways than just STEM. Better socioeconomic decisions are made if more voters are educated in areas other than programming (figuratively) and this is only achievable if this type of education is a viable path for young people, for example through tuition-free universities
- JoBrad 11y agoWe should better fund community colleges, and make pursuing a technical degree free. That is the degree whose goal is a job. For a BA, MA, etc, the goal shouldn't be a job, but the pursuit of knowledge. Part of that is the value in knowledge itself, but it also gives you a broader skill set that can be applied to many kinds of jobs, where a technical degree is much more specialized.
- andrepd 11y agoI would argue against that.
- superuser2 11y agoEmployers who require trained workers should bear the responsibility for training them (and control the process of doing so). On the other hand the public has an interest in liberally educated neighbors and voters.
- pc86 11y ago> I'm certain free education is better than $150k education. Is this really the case? Sure for identical education free is better than non-free, but I know even in software development if you're applying for jobs in the US and your degree is from Poland there are places that won't interview you, let alone hire you.
- Fargren 11y agoIn Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires is free and I know plenty of people who went from there to Google. They got better scores than Harvard in ACM last year. So yeah, free education can be as good in quality as paid education, at least in some cases.
- intended 11y agoLargely - It's not an education problem. It's a jobs, discrimination, and "qualification creep" problem.
- phrogdriver 11y agoNot to nitpick, but in my experience growing up in the Midwest of the US most "poor, but educated, families" like mine pushed children into state schools where they pay in-state tuition and graduate with $10-40k in debt. Most careers are open to them and you would almost definitely not be working at McDs or in jail.
- fijal 11y agoSo ok, we're comparing realities that might not be comparable. I also didn't have as bad as others, but in my case something like "in-state tuition" was essentially unthinkable as well as any sort of debt. If you have nothing, first it's unlikely someone would borrow you the money and second it's a terrifying prospect and a lot of money. The US poverty line is about 15k for a two-person family. That would mean that earning that much would make 1-3 years of family income in debt.
- jdminhbg 11y ago> If you have nothing, first it's unlikely someone would borrow you the money In the case of education this is not the case; the federal government provides (or backstops) the loans.
- cellularmitosis 11y agoNot only that, but the degree to which you have nothing directly affects the amount of aid (loans) they are willing to provide. I have a twin sister whom was better at saving than I. When it came time to apply for FAFSA loans, she had $2k in the bank and I didn't. She qualified for exactly $2k less in loans than I did.
- mjevans 11y agoThe lesson there is that those whom are irresponsible get further ahead (by having the irresponsibility discharged). This is what always irked me about how the bailouts were handled. They should have been controlled government regulated destructors that would tear off and re-attach resources that were viable to other companies and leave the investors with none of their investment.
- lukasm 11y agoThere are problems with free Uni in Poland - people studying for 10 years just to extend the childhood. (government pay 15k a year to the uni) - some Unis accept people just to get money off of the government (accepted 500, graduate 100) - lack of quality due to poor funding Uni should not be free, but cheap. (50% of yearly median salary)
- mietek 11y agoIf people have the means to support themselves while studying for 10 years, why not let them study for 10 years? They are certainly not receiving a scholarship for these 10 years.
- lukasm 11y ago@mietek I have no problem if they pay for everything. Tax payers are paying 100%.
- franciscop 11y agoIn Spain the first time you take a subject the University is almost free. The second time (if you fail) you have to pay 40% of the price and the 3rd+ times you pay 100%. Note: in Spain it is expected to fail some subjects in Engineering
- crazypyro 11y agoThat last sentence is almost assuredly a massive hyperbole. The US is not that bad...
- vectorjohn 11y agoLargest non-violent per capita prison population in the world? Not that much hyperbole.
- chc 11y agoThe idea that many poor adults work at McDonald's is assuredly not hyperbole.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]