Opinion Piece 1 - Tuition

Free Tuition

Takach

February 16, 2020

            Student debt is an enormous burden that weighs down many people for decades after receiving their degree. Not only are students having to extend their completion to be able to afford post-secondary, they are also becoming more and more dependent on their parents. As student debt reaches an all-time high, many countries including Canada are starting to consider the possibility of free tuition. Not only would this unburden many students, free tuition is good because more people would be able to attain their goals and it would decrease stress for many young adults.

According to Statistics Canada, the average student in Canada pays $6,500 for tuition per year not including the expenses of travel, textbooks and other necessities. When it comes to higher costing programs, students are paying anywhere from $8,000 - $22,000 per year. As this number continues to increase and it becomes less feasible for many, students are forced into loans before education is even an option. 

Josh Christopher, contributing writer for Nexus says that “[s]tudents paying interest on loans are actually paying more for their education than those who can afford to pay up front”. Even though loans seem effective for short term, free tuition would open doors for many who cannot get a loan and would significantly raise the number of people with an education.

Martha Kanter, executive director of the College Promise program in the U.S. says that a population with a higher education rate is “not only about money — it’s about crime reduction, it’s about health, it’s about happiness”. Having access to an education would change things drastically for a lot of people. More students would be able to focus their full attention on school because they wouldn’t be forced to work numerous jobs while in school or in between semesters, just to be able to afford their classes. 

In addition to schoolwork, students are struggling with their mental health as they take on too much just to get by. Kym Sweeny, single mother and law graduate from Dalhousie University is $223,000 in debt. “When I filed for bankruptcy, it really affected my mental health.” Sweeny says that it was only, “[t]hrough therapy, [she] identified that [her] personal stress was very much attributed to [her] financial stress”. Mental Health has been dismissed for far too many years and Kym’s case is not unique. 

Not only would free tuition make education possible for many who could not afford it otherwise, it would allow for students to concentrate on their learning and their mental health without the weight of tuition looming over their heads.

Sources

Statistics Canada as quoted in “Student dept: The crippling side effect of education.” https://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/young-money/student-debt-the-crippling-side-effect-of-education

“Open Space: It’s time to eliminate tuition in Canada by Josh Christopher in Nexus.” https://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2016/09/07/open-space-its-time-to-eliminate-tuition-in-canada/

Martha Kanter as quoted in “3 years ago, President Obama first proposed making community college tuition free. Here's where we now stand.” by Autumn A. Arnett. https://www.educationdive.com/news/free-community-college-its-not-just-democrats-making-the-push/512845/

“10 Millennials Across Canada Reveal How Much Student Debt They *Really* Have.” by Diana Duong. https://www.flare.com/news/canadian-student-debt/

Analyzing a Blog Post Assignment

Don’t Speak Up                                            Takach                                            January 15, 2020

Jeff Atwood’s blog post “Because Reading is Fundamental” speaks to individuals who have grown up alongside the internet and the dawn of social media. He addresses Millennials and Gen Z’s as we depend greatly on the use of technology and the internet for many things including communication. As time goes on, students in high school and post-secondary struggle with shortened attention spans as they are easily distracted, from even the simplest of tasks. 

Jeff Atwood draws readers into his post by establishing that placing a number beside someone’s name encourages the individual to do whatever it takes to increase this number. Atwood’s introduction is highly effective because many young social media users feel pressured to increase their number of posts, followers, likes and even friends when it comes to online appearances. In reality, Atwood says that posting more does not equal superior communication and the more time spent on number-driven apps, the more it influences us to rely on numbers for our worth within society. 

Jeff Atwood says that, “the best conversations are with people who spend most of their time listening.” He believes that we should read more because reading is listening, and it is a fundamental skill that we have forgotten about. Atwood proves this point well by featuring The Ars Banana Experiment by Ars Technica. This test demonstrates that less than 90% of people fully read an article before making a comment about the post. In this experiment, Technica instructed readers in the seventh paragraph to add the word “banana” in their response if they had read that far in the post. As it turns out, “banana” was not mentioned until the 93^rd comment. This perfectly proves Atwood’s point and establishes that many are losing the ability to listen and read for that matter, when it comes to communication with technology. 

Secondly, Atwood features The Slate experiment by Farhad Manjoo which shows that even when the title of an article dares the readers to read until the end, most of them still won’t. Analytics confirmed that the largest percentage of readers only read 50% of the article, even when the title taunted that they wouldn’t read the entire post. Not only does Atwood provide well documented sources to backs up his idea, both experiments prove that his theory has become a larger problem than we may realize.

Atwood addresses the issue and says that we must incentivize reading instead of talking. He suggests we remove pagination online because it creates barriers when reading. He also advises displaying read times instead of number of clicks to promote thorough reading. Also, Atwood advocates rewards for reading long posts which in turn, could reinforce listening in a positive way. Finally, he notes that the online world should give people a chance to catch up before being jolted to the next new thing. Atwood suggests that online feeds enable pausing so that people may finish reading to promote listening as an essential part of communication. 

When we communicate with people from a distance online, it is easy to have miscommunications because we are unable to clarify and gage facial expressions face to face. Social media most definitely reduces time and space although, we are definitely reaching a point of major disruption. Atwood’s post explains thoroughly why slowdown is necessary and uses sources to back up his claims. He encourages us younger generations to rethink the way our brains are being wired because faster is not always better. Atwood argument is convincing, and it is clear that reading will make us better listeners and in turn, better communicators.