by Kevin Bahler

Created on: August 01, 2008

The idea of treating education as a commodity seems to exist almost entirely in the United States of America. Since America was founded on ideas like earning what you have through hard work and keeping the government out of the way as much as possible, it makes sense that this phenomenon is so strong here. Whether we want a shirt, a car, or an education, somebody will have it for sale and we will pay to get it. The government will only provide for its people what it deems the absolute necessities of life, and even then, only if nobody else will do it.

Sure, we have free education, but it is very limited. Public schools today are mostly bare-bones daycares/prisons. This is as much attention and effort as the government has deemed necessary to educate the youth, the future of the country itself. It is no wonder that there are private schools for education and that they tend to be of higher quality than public school equivalents. After about 12 years of schooling, all education is privatized. The irony is that a high school degree is only useful in getting a job that one could probably get without it. If we want a high-level education and the opportunities it would provide, we have to pay for it.

Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of opinion. If you are one who agrees that the form of capitalism used in America is the best method for society, then this is a good thing. It means that all people are responsible for themselves and that paying for education is simply investing in our future. After all, we have to spend money to make money. Conversely, if you believe that higher education is an unalienable right of all citizens, then the current method is simply unacceptable. Calling it good or bad, however, is less important than figuring out what kind of future the system will create.

Education as commodity is a risky method. Unlike a shirt or a car, people's educations will greatly determine their future, including how much money they can make. If only the rich can afford the best educations, then only the rich will get the best jobs, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. For a country that was founded on the equality of mankind and giving all people a chance to make it big, the education system almost ensures that the opposite will happen. The system has worked so far, at least insomuch as that it has not collapsed in on itself yet, but mere sustainability does not prove that it is optimal. I suspect that we will find out very soon if the commodity of education is one that the nation can afford.

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