Comments on: Winning a free education http://mytaleofme.chrisjenkinson.org/2008/05/07/winning-a-free-education/ I’m Chris Jenkinson, the Academic Affairs Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:02:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Chris http://mytaleofme.chrisjenkinson.org/2008/05/07/winning-a-free-education/#comment-88 Chris Wed, 07 May 2008 20:19:09 +0000 http://mytaleofme.chrisjenkinson.org/?p=56#comment-88 Tristan, you're right that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But we talk about "free healthcare", the point being it's free at the point of service. Calling it a free education is a lot less of a mouthful than "an education paid for out of general taxation accompanied by grants and low-interest loans", even if it's a bit less accurate. Do we really start to value it less? Do you have to exchange money for something to be of value? I thought the saying was "an economist is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". In any case, with paid-for services people see themselves as consumers and demand value-for-money in a "the customer is always right" kind of way. While as a student representative myself I'll completely defend that the student voice needs to be heard, I don't think it's because voting with our pockets is the best approach. I prefer collegiality. Tristan, you’re right that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But we talk about “free healthcare”, the point being it’s free at the point of service. Calling it a free education is a lot less of a mouthful than “an education paid for out of general taxation accompanied by grants and low-interest loans”, even if it’s a bit less accurate.

Do we really start to value it less? Do you have to exchange money for something to be of value? I thought the saying was “an economist is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”.

In any case, with paid-for services people see themselves as consumers and demand value-for-money in a “the customer is always right” kind of way. While as a student representative myself I’ll completely defend that the student voice needs to be heard, I don’t think it’s because voting with our pockets is the best approach. I prefer collegiality.

]]> By: Tristan Mills http://mytaleofme.chrisjenkinson.org/2008/05/07/winning-a-free-education/#comment-87 Tristan Mills Wed, 07 May 2008 12:39:27 +0000 http://mytaleofme.chrisjenkinson.org/?p=56#comment-87 TANSTAAFL Everything has costs, who bears the costs just changes. So students naturally want to shift the costs of their education to others, but should they be allowed to? Especially as getting something for free means you value it less. TANSTAAFL

Everything has costs, who bears the costs just changes. So students naturally want to shift the costs of their education to others, but should they be allowed to? Especially as getting something for free means you value it less.

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