Forum Post: My idea for cheaper education
Posted 13 years ago on Dec. 7, 2011, 11:11 a.m. EST by MrMiller
(128)
from Sandy, UT
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Here is my proposal for opening up cheaper education to people in our country. It is my opinion that we don't need to pay professors quite so much money if we go about providing for them in a different way. What if we were to IMMEDIATELY find ways to provide for teachers to live life for free and paid their housing, (or collectively built them new houses, free of charge), gave them free food and also healthcare? If we collectively found a way to eliminate THEIR overhead, then we wouldn't all have to pay so much for them and this would thus drive down costs for all? I have been thinking about this for a LONG time and have decided that that would be the single greatest step towards reducing the costs of education period if we all worked together to do it. It's not even a hard thing to imagine. Anyone disagree?
I know how to solve this: stop government subsidizing education to such an extent. Everything the government subsidizes (healthcare, housing and education) has exploded in cost in the last 15 years. The result has been this Great Depression because people are over-leveraged with loans, and I would expect fully further contraction. If the government didn't subsidize people would insist on price increases that tracked their income increases, and costs would remain under control. Healthcare up 15% per year, wages up 3%--it doesn't take much to figure out the consequences of that long term (hint: the consumer becomes poorer with a lower standard of living).
we could fix education cost simply by replacing books with memory cards and require parents to purchase an amazon kindle for each kid. talking billions in savings.
http://www.khanacademy.org/
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/1_Top_10_Universities_With_Free_Courses_Online.php
Soooo.....we pay the professors less money, but we give them houses, food, and healthcare....all of which cost money. Not sure if trolling or if MrMiller really is this stupid...
Do I think this is a good idea? No.
But do we need to find ways to attract the best and the brightest into teaching? H#LL Yeah. And what do the top grads say why they don't go into teaching? $ So if you want the best you have to pay them comparable to what the best are paid in other fields coming out of college.
http://mckinseyonsociety.com/closing-the-talent-gap/ http://press.collegeboard.org/releases/2006/nation-still-risk-call-new-compact-between-america-and-its-teachers-starting-immediate-salar http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html?_r=1
My idea for cheaper education: Integrate online sources. Use Khan Academy and OpenCourseWare. If possible promote more quality material like MITOCW Physics Lessons. Use Opensource books. Establish certification centers. Done. Much cheaper than going through college. Much less staff and facilities needed.
As someone studying to become a professor, I wouldn't really mind that. So instead of getting, for example, whatever amount of money, I would get housing, healthcare for my family, and other useful things (like a bus pass into campus), discounted college for my kids, and a reasonable vacation and then $25-30k on top of that or something. I could do that, but also I will never be a well sought after prof. I'm in the humanities, so I'm not a star engineer or brain surgeon that invented some cool technology, and I'm not a celebrity. My books and articles on research will probably never sell enough for me to do more with the royalties than take my family out to dinner.
In conclusion, if the terms are actually reasonable, I'd be all for it. I don't need to be rich, I just need to have enough and know that I won't be a burden on my kids when I get old.
If you are someone studying to become a professor then I'm confident you will never make it. To even think this stupid idea would work shows you don't think much at all. Who do you suppose will pay for all the "free" stuff. All you have done is transfer personal responsibility to the government. Do you really want to live in a prison?
If you mean my current prison of student loan debt, then no, but that's what the $30k cash on top of things would take care of.
I have another idea, what about 2p2 school where students teach students when they already passed the course and professors are just setting up the course and checking the results. So instead of dozens of students sitting all day and staring at one teacher mo matter is they understand the subject or not it would be full cooperation between students and teaching others would just strengthen the knowledge. Cooperative business model could also be used to drive down the cost.
we plan to create free education online - from pre school to med school (except the lab part), legal, etc
just an example of where we are going.. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
Mr. Miller, There is a sort of parallel to what you are proposing. For many years the military paid relatively low wages to personnel at all ranks, but provided subsidized housing, food, medical care, and recreation. Was it efficient? Was it preferred by the personnel to higher wages and independent living choices? Do you know of other examples where your ideas have been implemented? If so, why was it done, and if not continued, why?
MrMiller's ideas are an example of communism which fails each and every time it's tried. He fails to realize that someone has to be paid to build that house and grow that food. Nothing is free.
You definitely bring up a good point, but there has to be a way to provide for teachers if we make them a top priority by having companies write off the things that teachers get from them. For instance, and this is a big pie-in-the-sky what if, but what if Walmart wrote off the things that teachers got from them with some sort of a purchasing card, funded by the exorbitant profits they take in? It sounds pretty preposterous, but they could fund that if they wanted and teachers would have plenty of Walmarts to go to and plenty of things to choose from. That's just one of the more inventive ideas, but I'm trying to think outside of the box here to help our nation.
And the main problem, I know, is that people want money, which is universal and which can be used across the country and world. I know the answer.
The answer is that you need to grow up and get a job. Try figuring out how to run your own life before you start worrying about the lives of others. Your thoughts are clearly juvenile.
Oh you really are a moron aren't you. It is amazing the lack of intellect shown here. Who is to decide what level of profit is too much. The idea you propose is exactly what is done. Government takes from the company profits and uses it to fund what ever it likes including teachers and education. It's called INCOME TAX. Do you even have a job or are you just hiding out in your mama's basement?
If you want cheaper education then the 1st thing you need to do is get rid of the public unions. Public unions hold taxpayers hostage and constantly demand more for less. The primary cause of increase education costs is burdensome requirements placed on the tax payer by union greed.
Cheaper, but not better:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/Chapter10-Carini-Final.pdf
Who do you suggest pay for all those "free" items??? Houses are not free, food is not free. Someone has to pay to build the house and grow the food. Here is another example of just how little these people actually "think". Nothing is free. Every person involved in providing these "free" items needs to have the same items which means they need money to pay for them. Communism has been proven to be a complete failure every time it's tried but apparently MrMiller has never studied history or economics or politics or even basic math.
Are you in college now?
I was, but only lasted for a while, because I became scared stupid of the financial responsibility after graduation. Only 3 semesters and already 5000 in debt. I don't think I have ever racked up that much even with consumer debt, which I have already paid off.
Why not get a job and work your way through a community college? Or get a job in a trade.
Only 3 semesters and you had $5000 in debt? What are you studying? Underwater basket weaving??? Perhaps you should go to the library or just google from your mom's basement. Learn about the history of communism. learn about personal responsibility. Stop playing video games and start learning to think.