Few days back , I wrote this on social media, reinforcing my believe in hard work.
My dad always says "There is nothing called free lunch, you pay for it one way or other" . When Senetor BERNIE promises FREE tuition, health care, it scares the hell out of me. I wonder who is going to pay for this? Teachers or doctors are not going to offer their service for free. I earned my education; worked really hard to pay off my student debt. I believe it builds character, it builds dream. I want my children to experience that some day.FREE makes people lazy and lazy people can't make a difference in the world. There is no alternative of hard work. It's the only way to achieve AmericanDream.
It somehow attracted lot of conversation on my social media. Some shared their views, own personal stories, some applauded, some even called me arrogant or ignorant. I would like to clear the air. May be I did not make my views very clear.
Here is a little bit of my Background. I was born and raised in Bangladesh. I came to United States at the age of 19. I finished my undergrad from "University of North Texas". In the first few year in US, I support myself with various scholarships, federal grants, student loan and my Co-op internships. My parents loaned me 3K as my 1st semester tuition, which I payed back while I was in school. I have first hand experience, how hard a student's life could be. Going to school, work 30 + hours a week. I remember, I used to take classes from 8 in the morning till 5 in the evening. Then work from 6.00 pm - to 12.00 am. Next morning, my shift was from 7.00 am to 3.pm and had class at 5.00 pm. I didn't have enough clothes to keep me warm in winter nights. Life was hard. However, I was fortunate to get well paid job with benefits after college. With careful planning , and no help from any individuals , I was able to pay off my student debt in 4 years.
Here is the reasons I cannot support FREE college education by funded by higher taxation.
The 1st argument I hear is, don't you support free K-12 education then?
K-12 and college is different. K-12 is for children and college is for adults unless someone is a super genius. Treating both same is wrong in so many level. Through k-12 we build our children, give them values, teach them the value of hard work, make them ready for the real world. If a child works hard to get good SAT score, s/he will be able to manage scholarship. They don't need free tuition. These hard working children will make the future. Those are not working as hard , doesn't deserve free tuition with my hard earned tax dollar. I rather create a scholarship fund than give away free tuition.
To me, college is the stepping stone of adulthood. One has to be responsible making his/her choices. If one chooses a major that has 50K median salary. It will take him/her 5 years to get to the median. S/he cannot take 70K loan/debt. If S/he still makes the choice, they should pay for it. If Senator Bernie, bails them out now, they will make another irresponsible choices and ask the society to bail them out again. It will be a vicious circle of irresponsible choices and bailing out.
Next, some told me , there is not enough scholarships.
I agree with you, scholarships are not advertised as well as loans. A responsible student , who keeps his GPA up, spend time looking/ applying for scholarship shouldn't be rewarded the same as student, who plays video game all day and take loans to finish school. Who do you think will do better in a performance based work life ? We have to teach the college students hard work and get them prepared for career after college. As you definitely know, not every one performs equally at work.
Would you prefer they all get the same bonus, salary, promotions, regardless of performance?
Do you know, a lot of scholarship goes unapplied every year in US . I did my undergrad in Texas. at least, in Texas, if you are in top 10% in any high school ( regardless of SAT score), you get free tuition/ or merit based scholarship in any University of Texas(UT) state school. I believe other states has similar / comparable scholarship system as well.
Someone is going to law/med school racking up 300k student debt. In their professional life they are going to make way more than 300k. Why a single mother, whose yearly income is barely 50K , has to pay more taxes , to pay for his/her (lawyer/ doctor's) education ? Most of these lawyer/ docs are not going to offer their services for free.
Free college tuition will degrade the quality of higher education in US. It will become as messy as K-12 . America is the number one super power, because of it's highest quality education system. To degrade quality to produce average students, it's not going to bring any good to the society. Sweden is a social welfare county and provides free higher education. Still given a choice, people choose American college degree than Swedish degree.
Suppose higher education becomes free and everyone has at least a bachelors. All the people , works in service industry, will still work there and earn minimum wages. The only thing changes for them , is to pay more taxes for someone else's degraded degree.
I would like Senetor Bernie or any other President to work on reducing the cost of higher education, rather than making it free , on the expense of our tax dollar. Higher education quality is a non negotiable for progress of any county. We need visionaries to create more job opportunities. Life is not pre-K, where everyone is rewarded the same, regardless the performance and effort. There is no alternative to hard work. If someone works hard, make responsible choices, can make it here. That's the American dream. For these reasons, I cannot vote for Senator Bernie.
My dad always says "There is nothing called free lunch, you pay for it one way or other" . When Senetor BERNIE promises FREE tuition, health care, it scares the hell out of me. I wonder who is going to pay for this? Teachers or doctors are not going to offer their service for free. I earned my education; worked really hard to pay off my student debt. I believe it builds character, it builds dream. I want my children to experience that some day.FREE makes people lazy and lazy people can't make a difference in the world. There is no alternative of hard work. It's the only way to achieve AmericanDream.
It somehow attracted lot of conversation on my social media. Some shared their views, own personal stories, some applauded, some even called me arrogant or ignorant. I would like to clear the air. May be I did not make my views very clear.
Here is a little bit of my Background. I was born and raised in Bangladesh. I came to United States at the age of 19. I finished my undergrad from "University of North Texas". In the first few year in US, I support myself with various scholarships, federal grants, student loan and my Co-op internships. My parents loaned me 3K as my 1st semester tuition, which I payed back while I was in school. I have first hand experience, how hard a student's life could be. Going to school, work 30 + hours a week. I remember, I used to take classes from 8 in the morning till 5 in the evening. Then work from 6.00 pm - to 12.00 am. Next morning, my shift was from 7.00 am to 3.pm and had class at 5.00 pm. I didn't have enough clothes to keep me warm in winter nights. Life was hard. However, I was fortunate to get well paid job with benefits after college. With careful planning , and no help from any individuals , I was able to pay off my student debt in 4 years.
Here is the reasons I cannot support FREE college education by funded by higher taxation.
The 1st argument I hear is, don't you support free K-12 education then?
K-12 and college is different. K-12 is for children and college is for adults unless someone is a super genius. Treating both same is wrong in so many level. Through k-12 we build our children, give them values, teach them the value of hard work, make them ready for the real world. If a child works hard to get good SAT score, s/he will be able to manage scholarship. They don't need free tuition. These hard working children will make the future. Those are not working as hard , doesn't deserve free tuition with my hard earned tax dollar. I rather create a scholarship fund than give away free tuition.
To me, college is the stepping stone of adulthood. One has to be responsible making his/her choices. If one chooses a major that has 50K median salary. It will take him/her 5 years to get to the median. S/he cannot take 70K loan/debt. If S/he still makes the choice, they should pay for it. If Senator Bernie, bails them out now, they will make another irresponsible choices and ask the society to bail them out again. It will be a vicious circle of irresponsible choices and bailing out.
Next, some told me , there is not enough scholarships.
I agree with you, scholarships are not advertised as well as loans. A responsible student , who keeps his GPA up, spend time looking/ applying for scholarship shouldn't be rewarded the same as student, who plays video game all day and take loans to finish school. Who do you think will do better in a performance based work life ? We have to teach the college students hard work and get them prepared for career after college. As you definitely know, not every one performs equally at work.
Would you prefer they all get the same bonus, salary, promotions, regardless of performance?
Do you know, a lot of scholarship goes unapplied every year in US . I did my undergrad in Texas. at least, in Texas, if you are in top 10% in any high school ( regardless of SAT score), you get free tuition/ or merit based scholarship in any University of Texas(UT) state school. I believe other states has similar / comparable scholarship system as well.
Someone is going to law/med school racking up 300k student debt. In their professional life they are going to make way more than 300k. Why a single mother, whose yearly income is barely 50K , has to pay more taxes , to pay for his/her (lawyer/ doctor's) education ? Most of these lawyer/ docs are not going to offer their services for free.
Free college tuition will degrade the quality of higher education in US. It will become as messy as K-12 . America is the number one super power, because of it's highest quality education system. To degrade quality to produce average students, it's not going to bring any good to the society. Sweden is a social welfare county and provides free higher education. Still given a choice, people choose American college degree than Swedish degree.
Suppose higher education becomes free and everyone has at least a bachelors. All the people , works in service industry, will still work there and earn minimum wages. The only thing changes for them , is to pay more taxes for someone else's degraded degree.
I would like Senetor Bernie or any other President to work on reducing the cost of higher education, rather than making it free , on the expense of our tax dollar. Higher education quality is a non negotiable for progress of any county. We need visionaries to create more job opportunities. Life is not pre-K, where everyone is rewarded the same, regardless the performance and effort. There is no alternative to hard work. If someone works hard, make responsible choices, can make it here. That's the American dream. For these reasons, I cannot vote for Senator Bernie.
Comments
Post a Comment