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MAY 2021
PART - 1
How Education Became Elitist?
Change in perception about education
Education of some form was considered compulsory and socially binding. To have a university education or higher education was something everyone aspired.
Whether they could achieve depended on many other circumstances, it was a prerogative of the rich and aristocrats. Over time, different countries have slowly changed their perception of education.
As the societies transformed in the modern era, it translated to achieve equality in education. There are millions more going to university than they would have a century ago.
The sole objective of education even then was developing intellectual ability to the fullest extent. But that outlook has drastically shifted in the latter half of the 20th and the 21st century.
Gradually, society has moved towards the job-oriented nature of education, and developing intellectual abilities have found a back seat.
The objective of schooling became mostly linked to future economic value addition and financial returns.
If you have a close look, those degrees with immediate and assured economic returns are the most chosen ones. Even if those curriculum does not mean an entire degree course, still they are in demand.
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One is unsure if today's education system is really about education or a training system that awards a certificate at the end of the term.
What this approach has done to the intellectual growth of society is another point of inquiry.
When a society's behaviour makes a choice based on economics, it is for a commodity and not an intellectual pursuit. The perception of education has found its place equivalent to a commodity.
It is now a choice. Demand and supply are the governing factors. There are few premium courses, and others don't attract enough students even if offered for free.
Whether to continue until the end or drop out from formal education, there is no social accountability.
The toxicity of financial accounting is also responsible for lowering the positive outlook of education.
As the tuition fee has become dearer in higher studies, the students have started to calculate the opportunity cost of the funds and time spent in higher education.
The cost of earning that a student would forgo has become a deciding factor. For students from lower-income families, the pressure would continue throughout their terms.
On the other hand, students from higher-income families are under high pressure to seek a university education to sustain their status. It will be socially detrimental to enter the labour force market just after completing high school, however lucrative their job offers.
These days, India is going through a similar transformation when it comes to education. Since, an elite tag comes with a degree from a foreign university, high-income families have serious pressure to send their kids to a university outside India.
The same is with Chinese parents. As a result, the American and British university crowds with wealthy Indian and Chinese students. The subject of studies undertaken may not be primary.
Not long ago, formal education was part of life. It was the sacred duty of all children to get educated and profound accountability of parents and moral obligation of the state.
With the commercialization, there is pressure to arrange finances, consequently diluting education's spirit and purpose. The universal accessibility and equality of education stand distorted in all developed countries.
Reason for Study Fees?
With the free market and competition rising, schools and educational institutions have grown in size and infrastructure. The basic requirements to impart education requires trained teachers and academicians.
In pursuit of upmanship, primary school or university, teaching and supporting staff has become an area of expertise and talent. The qualification required for the people in this profession has also increased manifold.
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The toxicity of financial accounting is also responsible for lowering the positive outlook of education.
Over a period, many have taken this as a serious economic profession. Gone are the days when teachers were lowly paid – part-time noble job to augment their household income.
Today, they must be suitably paid as a formal market exists, and there is a contemporary pay rate.
Earlier, up to the 19th century, education was closely aligned to religious studies and religious institutions. Churches, Islamic schools (Madrasas), Hindu Gurukuls, were imparting education.
The funding to these institutions was from the state and patrons. Students were barely responsible for running their school financially.
The practice existed for ages until the monetisation of education became the model in the west, primarily in the US. Business houses started their schools and universities, defining the kind of education imparted for profit.
The competition led to their expanding the business model, and steadily it became a profitable proposition. Its growth made education an important sector of the national economy.
Much of the family life and incomes started to revolve around funding the education of children. The general psyche of the society also changed, consequently, primarily seen in the west.
Governments felt the burden of financing education. To balance the government budgets, cutting corners in education funding started by the governments.
Why should someone's tax pay for someone else's child education? The duty to properly educate the nation shifted from being a role of society to being more individualistic.
Later, the policymakers did exploit that individualism to remove the state from the scope of educating the country.
There came a paradigm shift. How should education be viewed from the development perspective? Since the early 1900s, the American system has worked to make education, especially medical education, the privilege of few.
For example, the path defining Flexner report questioned the suitability of the African American medical schools. His controversial report helped the United States institutionalise the racial divide in education.
It "recommended the coeducation of women and men, but accepted racial segregation". It was the first step in making education elitist, which caught up with many governments worldwide.
From medical schools to other professional subjects, many business houses have adopted the financial model of education. Those with capital realised making a profit in the business of education.
This idea got exported from the US. Even those countries that started with free education for their population switched to this financial model over time.
Today, there is a component of government aid, individual grant and student's tuition fee. Depending on how the first two performances, the student tuition fee moves only upwards.
In England, after the global financial crisis of 2008, the government was struggling to get their finances in order. Their axe fell on the universities, which resulted in a threefold increase in their tuition fee. By the time an English student completes the undergraduate, £ 50,000 is already spent.
Nearly the same expenses do exist for graduation and post-graduation studies in the US. Whether parents or a student loan finances the amount depends on individual cases.
Canada raised the fees to meet the policy standard of 24-28 percentage of the operating cost. Further, in the mid-1960s, federal and provisional student assistance was done away with. An all-loan plan with repayments based on graduate income was introduced.
The financial burden on students is indeed straining.
As the educational institutions were to arrange their funds, financial innovation started to meet the requirement.
Besides raising student tuition fee, different avenues were explored to find additional funds either by providing optional services related to students or selling seats in return for donations.
They came up with creative ways with ancillary or incidental fees levied on the students.
As an example of finding assured student fee, USA universities have legacy admissions. Those alumni parent's children get a preference admission.
Some university has extended legacy admission to grandchildren, siblings, nephews and nieces. However controversial this method is, the practice continues.
Currently, IVY league universities have 10% to 15% legacy admissions. As a result, it further skews the accessibility and equality in already expensive education.
Why is higher education deliberately made expensive?
There is a factor in the economic performance of the country. The tuition fee increases the GDP. Therefore, the governments are encouraged to start an expensive education system.
The USA education industry is about $1.5 trillion. If the US education sector were a country, it would be in the top 10 countries bracket by GDP.
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The tuition fee increases the GDP.
Initially, the students were self-funding their education. Now there are fancy loan schemes to help. These student loan schemes help students sail past their education but make students start their careers with high debt.
The model of financing education by student loan suits the economy. Initially, the loan, then the interest pushes the economic activity. The higher the fee of the education, the higher is the loan.
The educational institutes also become more prosperous at the expense of student loans. For those business houses running the university, it becomes a profit center.
Profiting from education, they invest back to stay ahead in the competition. The whole economic cycle smoothen out with student loan.
Instead of following an objective of intellectual development, laissez-faire (free market) financially drives the purpose. They were just based on demand and supply.
When this model transverse international boundaries, these educational services in home countries import international students with money.
When international students arrive at this elitist university, they also bring a consumption package with them. This package feeds into the economy of the country.
The irony of the model is that most international students are wealthy ones from developing countries.
The finances, which should have been circulating in their home countries, is sucked in the rich countries through elitist universities.
In Australia, the universities face pressure to increase financial support for domestic students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The eight top universities (Group of Eight) have about 1,00,000 international students, which has inflated tuition fee for other domestic students.
Students have to undertake odd jobs at minimum wages to meet the expenses, sacrificing their precious study time and focus. It is a double whammy for the students.
One, they are hard-pressed for money and second, for study time. In most countries, where students undertake work, officially, they are allowed 20 hours a week.
These are complete unproductive hours as far as the students are concerned. Rightfully, students should only be focussing on their academic.
Over time, the community has started to glorify student working odd jobs and paying for their studies. For economists to realise, lost study time is a lost opportunity for the country to produce high-quality citizens.
To be continued in the next Issue of ExpertX.
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