Free Example of Microeconomics Essay

We think about college education mostly from personal perspective. Lots of students invest substantial energy and time in order to build their future with the help of education. Prospective possibilities and higher living standard drive families to limit and give up their consumption habits. In addition, some families become broke and go into debt as they are willing to give their children the possibility to continue education. In some countries school graduates have a possibility to study for free and get the scholarship. However lots of people claim that in reality this system does not work as it has to. What is more, it is important to mention the essential role of the student society in educational process, which significantly influences the life of the student.

Pros and Cons of Student’s Society

Student’s society is an organization formed by the group of students in the college or university. The uniqueness of such organization is that it totally consists of and is controlled by students. As a rule, student’s societies are formed in order to lead the students. That is why they have a lot of advantages.

First of all, it was proved that such societies mainly consist of very active students. Some of them promote healthy way of life, others – volunteering. However, each of them leads the freshmen. They organize orientation activities and create positive atmosphere in college.

Secondly, the student’s society is a good support for teachers. As a rule, leaders’ aim is to look after students. When they notice that the student may be problematic, they try to engage him in some secondary activity.

Thirdly, student society develops students’ cultural and moral values. They organize different concerts and activities, which involve many people. Student society is the best way to promote the necessary things.

However, the major disadvantage of student’s society is that its power sometimes can be used wrongly. Sine the main aim of the organization is to support students, the latter might abuse this possibility. However, it is probably the only disadvantage.

Difference in Level of Education

There exists an opinion that free education provides different knowledge then paid education does. The main difference is that universities which get money from students can provide higher salary for the professors and employ the best professionals. This cannot be said about free education. NSSO data analysis in 2007-08 revealed that free education is good only at primary level. What is more, this type of education is far from being universal (Tilak, 2004).

Thus, let’s evaluate two types of education on the example of the U.S. and Venezuela. Education in the U.S. is mostly paid, with little scholarship possibilities. According to U.S. statistics in 2004 the number of students who received the degree of Doctor was 48,000, Master - 559,000, Bachelor - 1.4 million, and the number of associate degree holders was 665,000 (Marklein, 2008). However, the fact remains that these numbers are not the real evaluation of the education of students. According to the U.S. Department of State Publication, the standard program has been made simpler in 2006. In 2007 Wyoming passing score has been lowered from 70% tо 60%. These facts prove that the level of education is decreasing in the USA (Marklein, 2008). Thus, the real facts are quite different from the theories.

Venezuela colleges and universities are well known mostly for providing education free of charge. Everyone who is willing to study and is smart enough does not have to go into debt and are able to study for free. The interesting fact about free education in Venezuela is that since the government has made the education free, even when it was available only to 30% of people, UNESCO Report of 19 January, 2010 says that the educational level of students has increased only by 5.1% between 2007 and 1999, and by 2.4% between 2007 and 2006. It should be mentioned that the whole educational system became free in 1999. Venezuela government wastes 7% of the GDP each year. In addition, according to UNESCO 98 % of Venezuela people are literate (Person, 2010). The above mentioned facts totally destroy the theory about the level of education.

Free or Paid Education: Which one works better?

Two examples of free and paid education have been presented in this paper. Both of them have their own concerns. First of all, paid education was proved to be not as perfect as it was supposed to be. The main drawback is that paid education is the constant process of deterioration. However, here we it is possible to agree on the statement that people who have a will to study are studying and developing their knowledge. On the contrary, those who do not have the will are not studying, regardless to the best professionals. The other thing is that some families go into debt in order to provide education for one of the family members. Nevertheless, the vice president of the Educational Association David Blame claims: "We want to be sure that when a college wants to make loans available to its students, that capital is available"(Marklein, 2008). 35% of the USA students are in debt. In theory the loan system has to work, however, in reality more and more families are in debt.

The opposite is the case of Venezuela where education is free. Not everyone is studying in universities, however, the smartest students have a chance to fight for their places. It seems that this system is more convenient because not everybody will become doctors or teaches. There should be farmers and builders as well. Thus, only 30% of people can study in the university, but those who graduate become highly skilled professionals. That is why, this system works better.