Higher Education doesn’t mean Expensive Education

“The Educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead” this quote is attributed to Aristotle.

The world of the 21th Century is one that many Experts in a wide range of areas across society believes to be the world of competitiveness like no other time in human history; competition between countries, races, religious and Political Ideology, classes, Financial Markets (evident more so on Wall St.) and almost everything that Humanity separates itself by, but Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest theory) or in this case (survival of the richest)  should have no place in the Education of Children from Early Childhood – Secondary or for those seeking ‘Higher Education’ at a Tertiary Institution be it Private or Public, in saying so I must give my support to any student union that stands up against the “No money, No Exam” Rule because once who have been gained entry through qualification and partial payment of fees then your free to sit your Exams. I must thank the University of the West Indies Student Guild for raising the issue once again earlier this week.

There is a preconceived notion in the world that to be properly educated and employable, one must have attended a private university that cost almost a life fortune just to live on campus much less the actual school fee. This classist Idea that a Public Community College or Vocational school is only for the “wat lef” in society, this is the reason why our institutions are underutilized, cast aside and neglected by both society and government, who seem to favor the private institution over the Publicly funded ones, which should make us cry shame and bloody murder at such actions like giving public grants to Private institutions to build sporting facilities and Labs. In a society where every penny counts, the grants would be better suited fixing the Community Colleges and paying the public teaching force to change public perceptions of what ‘Higher Education’ is. 

If the uneducated are as the same as the dead as stated by Aristotle then Jamaica is a land of mindless  walking zombies that have absolutely no purpose in life and if so how can consecutive Governments both JLP, PNP , Capitalist and Socialist really neglect Education by slashing and burning the sector in every budget just to balance the books. In this year’s budget I sincerely hope that education is spared and our society can be begin its resurrection from the jaws of death.