Does everyone deserve the right to attend university?

Yes, in a sense that financial restrictions should not be the reason for not being able to attend a university. No, in a sense, if high school students are lazy prefering fun and instant gratification over hard work and study and delayed gratification. They need the right attitude and credentials such as a high school diploma or the SAT college admissions test. Otherwise they don’t have the right to attend a university. I’m all for giving people a second chance. Some when they become older realize they made a mistake and catch up later in life.

No, people who spend their primary education days screwing up, not paying attention, and in general failing miserably do not deserve to go to college. The sure as hell don’t deserve to have someone – whether their parents or taxpayers – pay for them to go.

I believe that everyone has a right to an “appropriate” education that prepares them to make a contribution to society. This does not always come in the form of a university education, nor should it. I believe that a large segment of society is happiest when pursuing active, physical activities. You don’t need a university education to be a chef, carpenter, landscaper, etc. but you do need access to the education to provide you the base of education to be credible in those professions.

Many students end up going to college because they don’t know what else to do. They are unprepared. Appropriate education would strengthen both those fields, and the educational experience in universities.

At any given point in your life, you can always go back to school and learn something new.

Everyone deserves the right to attend an institution of higher education. Whether they choose to is up to them. At the cornerstone of public education is the idea that a well educated individual benefits society at large.

There should be a tuition discount for good students. =D

Tuition is just crazy these days…

Yes, college education should be available to everyone. The financial hurdle should be dropped – and turned into an examination hurdle.

Extreme testing to get into school.
Those who fail should go to vocational school or the military.

If one is able to score high enough on the ACT/SAT and are able to be accepted than absolutely! Everybody deserves a chance to receive higher education if they are willing to work hard to achieve it.

I believe testing beyond SAT/ACT is necessary. They need extreme subject/maths testing. Akin to the MCAT, or LSAT, just with high school material.

The test should carry their weight – SAT/ACT were jokes.

I went to school with too many dummies – not enough people to bounce ideas off of and have enlightening conversations.

Even if the school populations would be smaller, at least I would know I could talk to almost anyone on campus.

What @AlfredaPrufrock said ^^

I’ve taught at “career colleges” for almost ten years now. They are basically vocational schools that award degrees. Aside from some basic GenEd classes, the students are basically learning skills that are appropriate to very specific jobs.

phlebotomist, production artist, administrative assistant, help desk…stuff like that.

The kids I teach would be lost at a university (assuming they could even get in) but they do very well in a structured, specific course of study.

I was going to post my thoughts but MattBrowne said it perfectly.

i agree with @AlfredaPrufrock
In my opinion, everyone deserves an affordable education.

I think everyone has a right to a higher education, be it college, vo-tech, culinary school – whatever education they choose.

Failing miserably at high school is not something that should eliminate all people from the right to another form of education. My husband hated high school – couldn’t stand it, graduated – by the skin of his teeth. However, he put himself through vo-tech school and is now pretty sucessful at his chosen career. To limit someone solely on their grades isn’t necessary the best measure of who should be eligible of some form of higher education.

It’s almost criminal what tuition costs. Some are completely elimated by financial cirmcumstances. We could very well be losing our best and brightest. It should not be a privilege just for the wealthy. I am aware that it is not just for the wealthy, but at the rate this nation is going, it is becoming something that is harder to do, based on finances.

squirbel, you must be on top of things if you thought the ACT was a “joke”.Why should high school kids be punished just b/c their teachers did not care to prepare them for college. I made straight A’s in high school and then only scored a 25 on the ACT. College is where you really prove yourself, not high school. I believe that if you are willing to work hard for your degree, why does it matter how much you knew before you began. PS- Who cares whether you are able to talk with everyone on campus? In the real world, you will not be talking to every person you meet, nor will they WANT to speak with you, not you in particular, but anybody. Some personalities simply don’t mesh well.

@MrItty: So, because I had family problems and was depressed thru much of my younger life and it affected my performance…I don’t deserve my fafsa money now that I’m going to school working towards a PhD program? You would rather I be a burden for lack of education? Waste my intellect and never contribute?

Guess, change is something you don’t believe exists in people.

The world is not black and white.

@asmonet There are exceptions to every rule. I’m talking about the slackers, not those with actual reasons for doing poorly.

Children do poorly for real reasons, they then become poor students as teenagers as a result.

I do not believe there is a single child that would willingly give up the opportunity to learn without reason.

Even if they were simply a slacker, and had no reasoning for their behaviors. You would deny them the chance to turn everything around? And fulfill their potential?

Sounds childish. You fuck up once, you never have a chance to again. We’re all just going to punish you for being young and dumb because we were lucky enough to come away from our adolescence unscathed! Woohoo!

@asmonet please stop putting words in my mouth. I never said that slackers who want to turn their lives around should be forbidden from attending college. I simply said they do not have the “right” to go. If they want to turn their life around, they must do so on their own. I should not be forced to pay for some dumbass kid to go to school after he threw away his high school years partying and slacking off. If he wants to go, more power to him. I’m all for it. But he is not entitled to go in any way shape or form.

Oh, and please stop insulting those of us who did get through High School and beyond through hard work and sacrifice by calling us “lucky”. Luck has nothing to do with it.

i screwed up throughout high school and when i first went to college. i’ve got my head on straight finally, and fafsa pays for all my education currently. the past shouldn’t define who gets aid and who doesn’t.

@casheroo I’m happy for you, but I disagree. Someone who worked their ass off to pass has more of a right to the FAFSA money than someone who slacked off. If an actual hard worker was denied education funds because you got yours, well I’m sorry, but I consider that a travesty of justice.

The sad fact is that there is only so much money available in the world. Would it be nice to send everyone to college, to give everyone the money necessary? You bet. But that’s simply not realistic. I firmly believe college aid should be granted on a meritocracy basis.

Calling children who didn’t have a didn’t have a choice dumbasses isn’t the way to prove your point.

If that’s how things went, you were lucky, I stand by that. The majority of children don’t come of age without serious battle scars. To say anything else would be ridiculous.

And financial aid is a meritocracy, if you don’t keep your grades up to a certain point you are denied aid. Plain and simple. You’re just being callous.

You are not listening to me. I am not talking about children who “didn’t have a choice”. I am not talking about children with “emotional scars”. I am talking about the ACTUAL dumbasses! If you got through all of highschool without realizing that there were in fact, real honest-to-goodness dumbass slacker morons in your highschool, you either weren’t paying attention or you grew up on a 50’s sitcom.

THOSE children do NOT have a right, in my opinion, to federally funded secondary education, when it prevents other people from getting those funds.

I’m done repeating myself now. Believe what you want, and I’ll agree to disagree.

And you’re really not reading my posts, I believe that no child will actively sabotage their own education without an underlying reason. You disagree. The frickin’ end.

I went thru high school as one of the kids with the lowest GPA and the top 5% of test scores. I guess I don’t meet the qualifications for a free education.

How is this difficult for you to understand?

Nothing is more important to a society than education. If a person wanted to attend university until they were 80, they should be able to without any financial difficulty.

I think it’s one of the most important things, more so then health care, in creating and maintaining a great nation. All means of achieving an educated society should be utilized. Unless the government usurps and controls what can and will be taught to direct their agenda then you have a problem.