Random thoughts on funded education
2020 09 13 | journal
Number one on the list of things to do to get people trained and working is not to keep post-secondary training (college, uni, trades, etc) as an elitist cash grab. Don't force students to work full-time while they're in school. School should be their job. Forcing them into work is not a recipe for success. And post-secondary should be free because there's no reason to saddle a child with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt the very day they should be happiest.
Student Aid shouldn't need to exist. Don't punish children for their parents' faults or inabilities. Educating children helps us all. It's why we all pay municipal taxes so the children of strangers can get an education.
The response that I hear whenever somewhere is too expensive to live is move". That's really not a tenable response. Rents are too high, wages aren't keeping pace, moving because you're looking for a cheaper place to live could lose you your support system. I personally don't have an issue with taxes being raised if it's going towards something like universal education. It could be funded federally, then no one's nose is out of joint over the numbers/reasons usually put forth against it. And even if it weren't done that way, so what if someone's going to BC for school. Someone from BC is going to Alberta for it. It doesn’t need to be this zero-sum game.