In order to foster social equality, the state must actively encourage groups in society without cultures of university attendance to seek higher education
POINT
There are often sections of society, in many countries, that on average attend university with less frequency than even other groups with comparable economic means. For example, poorer white Americans are still more likely to attend university than similar poor African-Americans. The reason for this is that the cultural impetus to attend university has an impact on whether people attend, not simply financial means. In the case of the United States there is a perception within inner cities that university is principally for privileged white people[1]
This sentiment is pernicious, as it causes people in such areas to not seek university education, even when they might find access to scholarships or loans. The state can ameliorate this problem by eliminating fees. In doing so, it can act to inculcate the notion of university education as a right for everyone, not just the privileged, which serves to break down cultural biases against higher education. The impetus to attend university will benefit these disadvantaged areas by creating an educated populace who can find work in careers other than unskilled labor and tradecraft that currently predominate. It will also aid in rebuilding social connections between these often-isolated groups and the rest of society. Clearly, free university education benefits societal harmony.
[1] Allen, Walter and Edgar Epps and Nesha Haniff. 1991. College in Black and White. Albany: State University of New York Press.(Allen et al., 1991).
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COUNTERPOINT
Making university free will do little to foster social engagement from disenfranchised groups like inner city African-Americans. Rather, free university education does little other than benefit those who would already have attended; only without fees they can do so for free. Groups with an anti-education bias will not simply be convinced of its merits by its being made free. Spending taxpayers’ money on social outreach programs and other civic activities are the way to contact these groups and encourage them to enter university. Making university free is a pointless gesture.
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