honton (10/26/82)
If education is not a "right" then perhaps this is what is wrong with our society. The only way cultural repressed and depressed people can become part of the power structure and enjoy many of their basic rights is by education. I'm not arguing that we can teach algebra to a horse, but that we have an obligation to educate as far as possible anyone who wants to know more. Students should not supported in an extravagent life style but they should still be given the economic chance to attend the school of their choice. My own experience as an undergraduate is not cushy. I pay one third of my tuition, one/third is loans, and one/third is grants. But I also have to have food, shelter, and clothing. I am an independent student and my parents aren't receiving phone calls for money every week. I've scraped by without new clothes in three years, I've never owned a calculator, I sell what few textbooks I buy. I would never be able to afford a personal computer, nor would I want to be forced to own one. Personal computers have little value outside of being video games. They do not teach programming, they do not teach hardware, nor are they presently usefull as network stations. I wonder why CMU is so hot on them. chas (..decvax!cwruecmp!honton) ps. For what is a history major going to use a pc?
emma (10/27/82)
''Basic'' education is a right, ''advanced'' education is not. This is why there is a *public* school system providing basic education. The reason Mr/Ms High School Grad is currently at a disadvantage in obtaining employment is the mistaken notion over the past 20-30 years or so that a B.S. is somehow a right. The education afforded a typical liberal arts major is in no way superior in affording real-live jobbable skills than is the education provided in high school. The (valid) argument for public colleges is not based on a right to education, but on a need for trained people in excess of the numbers which can afford a private college. Finally, even if you wish to argue that a college education is a right, you most assuredly can not argue that an education at a private college is one. Were good old UW to require PC's of all incoming frosh, without providing financial assistance, the outrage would probably be justified. A private college can require (almost) anything they wish of their students, regardless of the effect on the cost of their education. If they can't afford it, they should be at a state school. -Joe P.
ian (10/27/82)
There can't be such an animal as a `right to education' any more than there is a `right to a color tv' or a `right to two cars'. These things are produced by somebody's labor (although one might not think so in looking at recalled automobiles, the occasional incompetent professor, etc). You no more have a right to the products of another's labor than he/she has a right to the products of yours. IF you choose to donate your labor to someone, that's fine. But don't claim to have a right to the products of others' labor. You don't. Further discussion on this probably belongs in a poli-sci newsgroup or in private mail. Thanks. Ian Darwin, Toronto, Canada
wapd (10/28/82)
Education is not a right so much as a DUTY. I perceive it as the way that the human race (or any animal) passes along collective knowledge and experience. Animals seem to rely on imitation as an educational tool (offspring sees parent do something and imitates it, thus "learning" it). We rely more on formal schooling and physical recording of information (books). Bill Dietrich houxj!wapd Of course, education is fun, too.