BLOG 17, March 2, 2012 - Post Secondary Education

This from the student protests in Toronto courtesy of Matt Gurney, The National Post, Feb 2/12 

“Reduce fees for everyone!” “Students are graduating with heavy, heavy debts!” “Six thousand dollars a year, plus a thousand dollars for books a year. Do the math.” “Students are graduating with a mortgage-sized debt — they’re buying a house and they can’t live in it.” 

Why does any student feel they are owed government help? Post-secondary education is a choice. Hell, it’s a competitive process — students strive for high marks and public successes to increase their chances of getting into school. There is nothing mandatory about it. And once they’re into the school, after they pass at the tests, their response is that someone else should make it easier to stick with what they started?

“Do the math,” one of the protesters encourages us. Excellent suggestion. Why didn’t she, before she enrolled in school? She either knew what school cost and went into it anyway (thus absolving anyone else of the responsibility to pay her freight) or she went into it naively, which is unfortunate, but can be easily solved — if she realizes that education isn’t worth the cost, she can drop out and do something else. There are plenty of reasons to pursue higher education, but it’s not for everyone, or worth it at any price. It’s madness to walk blindly into a situation and then insist that someone else send you the cash you need to see it through.