Got into a little online Facebook argument with my golfing buddy's wife's friends over today's protest at UC Berkeley, my alma mater. If you haven't been following the news, the University of California Regents approved a 32 percent tuition hike yesterday to help with the system's $800 million budget shortfall, sparking today's protest across several campuses.
If I was a student or a parent of a student I'd be livid. Thirty two percent, that's brutal, borderline criminal. But that is life in today's economy. My previous company had salary cuts earlier in the year, from 5 percent to 25 percent. One of my other golfing buddy's firm cut their junior associates' yearly bonuses from $60K to $5K. The economy sucks, we all hate it.
But these protesters aren't just upset with the tuition fee hike. No, they have a completely different agenda, that higher education should be free. That's right, free for all. "No cuts, no fees, education should be free," is their chant. Must I use that hackneyed saying? There's no such thing as a free lunch. Must I ask the obvious? Who will pay for this "free" education.
It must be a generational thing, because I don't know anyone of my generation (I'm 33) who thinks higher education should be free. Public higher education should be accessible and affordable, but free? The last free thing I got was a t-shirt for signing up for a Capital One credit card, which ended up costing me thousands in interest. K-12, yes, that should be free. But once you are an adult you pay for your own way if you're not fortunate enough to have rich parents. Yea, life sucks. I'm not the son of Bill Gates and my driver still slices.
I guess I'm so annoyed with the protesters and all this free bullshit because when I was selecting colleges some 10 years ago I was faced with some difficult decisions and I didn't whine about it and throw a hissy fit. Having lived on the west coast all my life I wanted to go east for college--Cambridge/Boston, maybe New York City. Then I saw the tuition and living expenses for the east coast private schools. No thanks, didn't have a college trust fund. So Berkeley at half the cost it was. You didn't see my crying about how Ivy League schools cost $30K.
Where do these protesters get the nerve to demand free education? They do realize that free just means someone else has to pay for it, right? Hey, in Sweden, where the tax rate is 80 percent, higher education is free. Are you willing to pay 80 percent in taxes? I'm not. Actually, I would be willing to pay 80 percent in taxes if things were ran better, but our educational system is so fucking broken.
Forgot the exact numbers, but between 30 and 60 percent of California State University (one level down from the UC system) freshmen require remedial education. That's right, they are college bound but can't read, write or do arithmetic at the most basic level. I could care less if you know algebra or the difference between "there" and "their", as long as you're a good, decent person with a good attitude. But don't expect me to pay for your "free" education when you need remedial education.
K-12 is like basic health care, a universal "right". Higher education is like getting a tit job, not covered under the public option. So if you want to major in 12th century Far East art with a minor in classical antiquity, do it on your dime.
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