There are still many poor people who don’t have enough money to let their children go to school, many of them are smart and talented, but they do not have the chance to be educated. This is a loss to society. So how can we make sure this does not happen? By international human rights law, primary education should be free of charge; compulsory education and secondary and higher education should be progressively provided free of charge. From my point of view, providing free education all over the world will be a good solution to let all the children have the chance to be educated. Free education should be supported because it can help achieve better social equality and more social harmony, and it can help enlighten society.
Firstly, free education helps to improve social equality. In 1879, Matthew Arnold first put forward the concept of social equality, including that all humans should have equal rights and opportunities. Free education can help to maintain equality. In a website article titled ‘John Locke on Equality, Toleration, and the Atheist Exception’, the author depicts John Locke’s idea as follows: a man is free and equal in nature, and he must believe that he is still free and equal when he enters society. Therefore, for Locke, the establishment of the state is based on guaranteed equality. Without such equality, there is no motivation to enter society. In an article titled ‘Overcoming Inequality Through Education’, Heather Munroe-Blum explains the relationship between education and social equality. She suggests that education may be the most important means of improving the welfare of the disadvantaged, especially as more and more of the world enters the global knowledge society, and is a cornerstone of improving social justice and economic productivity. In a nutshell, free education can let all the children have the chance to go to school. A family could be poor, but the children still could still be educated. Education can change the social status of disadvantaged groups and make them get better treatment in society. That will make society less despairing, and each person in society will be more equal.
Also, free education should be supported because it promotes social harmony. In ‘Role of Education in Building a Harmonious Society: Challenges and Opportunities’, Rajasingham Narendran defines social harmony as follows: “Social harmony refers to the building of a harmonious society within a country”. In addition, the author also explains that when a society is inherently unjust, unequal, and does not provide equal opportunities, it is not harmonious. The ‘America and South Africa Homicide Rate’ data shows that for every 100,000 people, there are, on average, 33 people murdered, in America, just 8. This shows that when a society is fair and equal, it will be harmonious. Free education will let people become equal and have equal opportunities. America has more people being educated than South Africa, which makes society safer, the number of people murdered is also relatively small. To promote a safe and harmonious society, we need to have free education all over the world.
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Last, free education should be supported because it promotes enlightenment, meaning the act of enlightening or the state of being enlightened. Enlightenment can be achieved by free education. ‘The Roots of Educational Theory’ describes John Locke’s views on education. John Locke believes that a gentleman must receive an education that will lead to a successful life in the practical affairs of society. In today’s words, vital subjects would include subjects like math, science, and language. There is no better measurement of education systems than that of the PISA tests. The book ‘PISA 2015 Results’ tested children from different countries' math problems and it demonstrated, with graphs, the average math score of them. The data shows that countries with a higher education background and more people are educated generally achieve better. Countries that do not provide a universal system or only very basic education achieve only a margin of what those that provide free education. Hence, free education would help to create, as Locke would have said, an enlightened society.
My opponents might argue that free education will cost the government a lot of money. The government makes money by collecting taxes, about 65 percent of the taxes the federal government collects come from individuals. According to ‘The Declaration of Independence and Natural Rights’, Locke wrote that all men are equal in the sense that they are born with certain inalienable natural rights, the natural rights being life, liberty, and property. The government takes tax from people’s wages to achieve free education, this is the deprivation of people’s property. Still, overall, my position is stronger because free education is good for the whole society and can let every citizen get rights. People are a part of society, and although free education will cost some money from the government, it will let society be better and everyone will get rights.
Free education around the world needs to be supported because it helps to achieve equality and social harmony, and it helps to enlighten society. Thanks to this, our society will become better. When our society achieves equality, every individual in society can get the same rights and opportunities. Equality is the basis for promoting this social harmony. Social harmony will decrease conflict and make our society safe. When society achieves equality and harmony, everyone's life will be better. Free education can make the world go forward, everyone in society can be educated, it is a way to reduce the gap between rich and poor and create a better society. Free education can change a person's status in society, let everyone's life become better, and make society go forward.
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