Should College Be Free? and other news from NC
by Robert Russo
Our neighbors to the south have a good history of showing us previews of what things could be like in VA. Some examples of this are the NC Lemon Laws, the record of city authorities in Raleigh working together (unlike Richmond), the climate of course, and the fight against the Outlying Landing Field which Leonard spoke of in his report. (Although this cause includes the Virginia Beach area it is headquartered in NC and their website is calling for more Virginia chapters.) The race for governor in that state is mounting, with one candidate running on a platform of free community colleges.*
This idea has come and gone over the years with no state yet adopting it, Massachusetts coming closest in 2007.** The Scandinavian countries stand alone in the world for providing free education all the way through graduate school, even for foreign exchange students.*** There is very little history involving Virginia or libertarians that I can find, and here is probably why:
Someone might assume that if I have academic creditors knocking on my door after 11 years I would support easing this burden on the student. But I did not get anything of value for this money. Libertarians oppose dictatorial regimes as well as bilking the citizen. The goal of private institutions may be to take your money, but public institutions strive to take away our freedom. Free admission means more students and greater influence, so it plays right into their hands. Any monopoly tramples those who dare to disagree with it, so there has to be something that sets people apart (i.e. cost). As long as this exists the service is not universal and therefore there are other choices. Many have tried to reform these institutions but if it can't be done, we must widen this divide and make it more difficult to enroll, not easier. If no one can afford tuition there would be so few students the college degree would lose value and the rest of us move upward in the workforce. These sprawling self-serving campuses would shrink, releasing young people as fulltime participants into society.
So what to make of this depends on your definition of "free". Education is free, whatever institution says otherwise is standing in its way. Most libertarian sites on the subject of "free education" are referring to freedom for the student, to be his or her own person instead of brainwashed and dehumanized by regimes. More freedom in the classroom will probably come at greater cost, while a curriculum at no cost is likely to be serving someone else's plans for our offspring.
Then there is the argument that there is no such thing as free tuition because someone else has to pay for it. (Also called "subsidized education".) A lib would not only oppose this but say that no one besides those enrolled by choice should pay a cent. Democratic candidate Richard Moore says the first two years of this can be paid using interest from the state's settlement against tobacco companies.* So this is just a short-term proposal, one of many, of what to do with an available surplus. It's nice to see a politician vow to give it back to the people, but there are so many ways this can be done directly instead of feeding the school system.
Responses to Moore's platform at carolinapoliticsonline.com are all "let people fend for themselves" or "I had to pay so you have to pay", which aren't very libertarian. Right now the most successful provider of no-cost college courses and other training is the internet, and it's hard to know what to make of this. Distributing free information to use as we see fit empowers the citizen, but handing out free sheepskins with a government stamp on them enslaves the citizen unless he either designed it himself to speak his true credentials, or they are given out without having to earn them in which case the government's seal loses credibility and things like knowledge, integrity and determination are sought instead.
*http://www.carolinapoliticsonline.com/2008/03/05/moore-wants-free-community-college-and-higher-minimum-wage/
**http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/education/02massachusetts.html?ref=education
***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_education
Question of the Week: On the subject of paying for college, do you sympathize with the student, the taxpayer, the school or none of the above? Send your opinions to russo@richmondliberty.org.
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