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Reading 1/1:
Read the essay below and answer the questions below.
The Right to Education
[1] Not everyone goes to college after they finish high school. Many people choose to go straight to the workplace instead. Is this because they prefer to do that or because college has become so expensive that it no longer seems affordable to them? Taking away the financial obstacle would allow everyone to continue their educations and continue preparing for higher paying careers. Because everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve higher education, the U.S. should make college education free for everyone.
[2] To fully comprehend the problem, it is necessary to understand that college was not always overly expensive to attend. In the mid twentieth century, college in the U.S. was not only affordable, but it was also a good investment for young people to make for their futures. At that time, it was affordable for students because the state governments paid a lot of money to universities, which made tuitions lower, and the federal government paid money to students in the form of grants and low-cost loans. However, just as "borrowing to pay for college took off,"public support of colleges decreased (Claudio Sanchez). This began a cycle in which the federal government helped students pay for college, and the schools increased tuition because they knew students would just borrow more money to pay for it. Some of the money was used to pay professors higher incomes, but most of it was to pay for more administrative positions. To make matters worse, many of those administrators earn six-figure salaries as of 2015 (Scott Jaschick). This combination of factors led to a situation that makes higher education too big of a burden for many low and middle class students.
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[3] The first reason that colleges should not be making a profit off of students is that low and middle class students are the ones whose lives can be most greatly impacted by higher education. First, education has always been for the benefit of youths and has fostered them in their growth. For over 200 years, teachers in the U.S. have had a reputation as hard-working people dedicated to helping students learn and succeed. The debate over the purpose of a college education is old and can be summarized as being either to prepare students for the workforce or to give them "social, academic, cultural and intellectual development (Strauss). Despite the debate, college has always been about benefitting the students. Also, for colleges to make profits off of students, who are only trying to create opportunity for themselves, is abusive. The chief bookstore administrator should not be making a six-figure salary while students are left with $100,000 in debt after four years of college (Jaschick). Furthermore, if administrators want to earn large salaries, they should not be going into education. They should look for jobs in business fields such as finance. Regardless, universities should be far from profiting off of students.
[4] Instead, American universities should provide free education because a more educated public will improve the country overall. The most obvious improvement will be in salaries because more people will get higher-education degrees and, therefore, get higher-paying careers. Anyone would be able to become a doctor or engineer and earn a large salary without having to pay off debt for twenty years. In addition, free college education for everyone would raise the intelligence of the society as a whole. It's a logical conclusion that more educated citizens would citizens.
make wiser decisions for their families and their well-being. For example, some studies have shown that college graduates are more politically and civically active and may be less inclined to smoke or drink alcohol (Nie). If a large part of the population shared these positive habits, society would benefit. Finally, crime will be reduced if more of the population pursues higher . Deming found that "teaching skills that increase students ability to find employment"
education. David J. Deming (2016) studied the effects of education on middle and high school students allows them to stay in school longer, delaying the onset of criminality through the peak period of offending behaviors." The same result is true for college students. If they have a chance to continue gaining skills that will make them more employable, they will choose work instead of crime. Proof of this can be seen in some European countries that offer free education to all
