Is Education a Human Right or a Privilege?

Is education a human right or a privilege? Does everyone in the U.S. and the world have the right to an education, or should it be a privilege? Some social justice advocates believe that education should be a human right, not a privilege and that it should be free for ALL.
Any thoughts on what you think on this issue?

http://pollychester.com/2015/01/07/education-is-our-human-right/

 

Man, what is with our ececonmic education system, all these new posters with these grade school financial educations

How old are you? I HONESTLY mean no disrespect at all, I just am curious.

If you make college the way you are describing it, someone will come out with a privately run higher education system and it will be more highly regarded that college. College will be the new community college and because the government now runs it, 75% of the staff will leave to the same private.

Bernie cannot win, I am sorry.

 

A human right? Globally? If you had said nationally, I would agree with secondary education being very important. I don't like the language of "rights," but secondary education, in America, is a good thing.

 

I know Bernie can't win. His brand of socialism will not work. I'm in my 30s. I know Sanders can't win, but his supporters are foolish. They would sit the election out because they think Hillary Clinton is too DLC-New Democrat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/the-new-democrats-meet-th_b_8531830.html

 

This sums it up for me as well. The term 'right' can be ambiguous, and as used here, it is.

 

An educated citizenry is a good thing. Free public education is, in principle, a reasonable way to attain that goal.

Unfortunately, the public education system does not work very well. The typical college graduate is less educated than the typical highschool graduate of 100 years ago.

The sad fact is that many students are either not bright enough or motivated enough to benefit from all that much education.

I don't believe in the right to an education because it is wasted on the stupid and/or lazy.

Education should be a privilege bestowed on those who can actually benefit from it.

 

If by 'right' you simply mean something the government cannot ban, then I'd agree it's a right. Like firearms, the right to own a gun doesn't mean you have to own one, nor that it should be free. As I'm describing it here, the right to an education would seem covered by the free speech clause if the 1st amemdment. Can't stop people from writing, speaking, readung nor listening, and hence, learning.

 

Human rights do not exist until society defines them for us. That being said, education is for the benefit of society not for the individual so because of this it is als not a privilege. It is a basic necessity to have a productive population.

 

Are we the only two people in the universe who recognize this?

 

In my opinion, the poll would be worded better as education being an entitlement, not a right. I think that would make for a more productive discussion.

 

There are a few of us around here.

I am curious about your statement that high school graduates 100 years were more educated than college graduates today.

What is your reasoning for that?

 

That wasn't me, but I think I know what he is referring to. There are old admission tests from that period that you can access online, and they are REALLY hard. I think I saw one that was for admission into a high school, and the candidate had to be able to write Latin and Greek, know quite a bit of math, and be a geography whiz--I mean some really tough questions. It is absolutely true that the people who went to college 100 years ago had to be a hell of a lot smarter than they do today. Here's a link. It will blow your mind.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...s-a-1912-test/2012/01/04/gIQAxjC00P_blog.html

 

In the US primary education is considered a right. A free and appropriate education. SCOTUS has already ruled on this

 

Interesting, I was not aware of that.

Thank you for the link.

I failed the test by the way and I have two degrees.

 

No problem!

Our education system is a Mickey Mouse operation designed to create high employment and nothing more. We spend 400 billion a year on tuition and fees (total spending, public and private), and that does not include the cost of living and opportunity costs while in college--go ahead and triple it.

This country wastes trillions a year. We better pray to god our military can keep our currency alive because this scam of a country will collapse if all of these holes are ever exposed.

Yeah, I had no chance of passing it, and I consider myself highly knowledgeable.

 

It is neither, it is a need. And it is not just a need for individuals, human societies NEED their populations educated in order to survive and evolve.

Education is part of the PURPOSE of free speech.

 

Autodidacticism is a right, being taught is either a business or a governmental service but not a right.

Cheers
Labour

 

There are good schools and bad schools. Overall, you may be correct in calling it mickey mouse. I don't have enough info to form an opinion on that. What I do know is that mickey mouse operations abound in this nation, of all types. Always have and always will. Mickey Mouse is only human, after all.

Cost of living exists independent of college, so I'm not sure I'd include that. Opportunity costs don't extend to those who work their way through, whatever number that may be. I certainly agree the education system is costly. Doesn't appear we're having any success in reducing costs, or in improving quality. We do keep churning out educated people, though. US educated people are still running the show. I'm not shillin' for the teachers' union; I'm just more optimistic.

Agreed, but we've been doing this for a long time as well. Maybe the old system of nods, winks and bribes wasn't so bad after all. Dirty, dishonest as hell, but shyt got done. Lol.

Not all students are able to learn at an advanced rate. I'm sure the 8th grade test was from a school with advanced students. Either way, as a whole, we're far more educated today than 100 years ago. The demand for Greek and Latin surely has declined.

 

A human right would be something that you have simply by virtue of being alive, so unless you guys are going to go back to slavery in order to force teachers to teach, then it's not a right.

 

To be fair, I aced the couple of subjects where I have had formal trading but the area like math where I have not I did indeed fail. So is that a reasonable measure of a failed education system or an affirmation that the subjects we choose to learn are very well taught?

Remember that 100 years ago most children were all instructed by the same teacher who would have prepped them for all these answers, today we have standardized tests and things like common core so I am not convinced that education is worse today.

Also, 100 years ago education was more focused on facts and memorization, as this test shows, today we have a stronger emphasis on critical thinking skills. Is it better to memorize a map of US capitals or to know how to access databases to find that information in ten seconds?

 

Not all students are able to learn at an advanced rate. I'm sure the 8th grade test was from a school with advanced students. Either way, as a whole, we're far more educated today than 100 years ago. The demand for Greek and Latin surely has declined. [/QUOTE]

You are right about the cost of living. I just wanted to be dramatic The opportunity costs are real, though. People who work while in college are working at terrible jobs. If college were more efficient they wouldn't be there as long and would have at least two years of good wages under the belts within the same 4 year time-span.

I'd also disagree about the quality of any of our schools. Virtually all of them are based on archaic models and run very similarly. Education should take half has much time and be about a fourth of the cost it currently is. The accreditation boards, the student loan program, and all of it will have to be eliminated. The government needs to get out of the education business, period. Other countries can do socialism, but we can't--that has been made abundantly clear.

Students who can't learn at an advanced rate shouldn't be in college. After all my years of being a delinquent and not going to school (drugs, violence, truancy), I went to college and usually had the highest grades in my class--I trained myself with google and didn't require a teacher. Intelligence is genetic and no amount of education is going to change that. This is one of the sad truths that this country has yet to face.

Exactly. This term "human rights" is pulled out of thin air. It's no wonder the Chinese laugh at us every time we talk about it--they think we are making appeals to Santa Clause.

That test did focus intensely on facts and memorization, but that isn't necessarily bad--I'd argue that there was also more higher level content than what you would typically find on a test at that level today. Also, I'd argue that we only think we are testing higher level thinking at the expense of rote learning.

Actually, we suck at both.

 

Its a right when it comes to educating yourself. Its a privilege if you want others to pay for your education

 

You are all entitled to your opinion. But the supreme court has ruled that a free and appropriate education is a right in this country even if you are not a citizen.

 

Education must be a natural and civil right to the extent there is no appeal to ignorance of the written law.

 

In the current repub party, it's more like an endangered species.