Free School Books
Yesterday our government took on a motion for free school books. After long debate they finally decided to go ahead with providing free school books for middle education.
When I heard this I was kind of in shock, until it sank in. I’m appalled to say the least. My parents always had to cough up a shit load of money for school books and educational fees. And if I compare prices of school books now ( 308 EUR per student) and back then, it’s pretty much the same amount. So to say that school books suddenly got so expensive that they need to provide them free to students is not only untrue but basically a big fat lie.
Not only did they make the books free, but recently they waved the school fees too. I really don’t see what’s so different now compared to my school years. Everyone had to pay back then and surely people complained because for them it was a big amount of money to pay too, especially with more than 1 child in middle school. But did the government do anything then? No, nothing at all, they just figured we had to pay because we had to go to school.
Of course this news is nice for parents that have kids in school right now but very unfair for the parents that had kids in school not even 10 years ago! They have spend thousands on their children’s education without ever seeing any money back from it whether or not they could afford it ‘easily’ or not.
Personally I feel they are making it too easy for parents these days. They get handed free education and with that I think they are making it too easy for students too. A lot of them don’t care about their education at this stage in life anyway but parents keep an eye on their work and the school systems because they are paying money for it. Which they want to see put to good use. With no fees for books or education who is going to keep an eye on the system (and the children’s school work), I doubt it will be the government. Maybe some parents will keep an eye on their children, but with today’s mentallity when it comes to raising children, most parents are too busy and don’t ‘have’ to care anymore as they are not paying for it.
On top of this all, government is obviously going to pay for this, but in the end it will be us, tax payers paying for all of those school books. So now my parents aren’t working to pay for my education, nor my sisters, they will be paying for other people’s children to go to school for free (and some for nothing I guess 
).
Yes the parents of today’s school kids are paying taxes too but why should I pay for their children. No one has every paid for me except my parents…
6 Comments on "Free School Books"
And what about the people who can’t afford those books? What about the people whose parents don’t care to pay for them, because they don’t see the value of education? Your argument seems rooted in an ostensible jealousy, some grudge you hold against people who now don’t have to pay, because YOU and YOUR PARENTS had to pay. Isn’t progress about making the world a better place for future generations, rather than maintaining the status quo just to make ourselves feel better about how hard we had it?
While providing textbooks free isn’t the most ideal solution by any means (tanstaafl!), I disagree with your assertion that parents only care about their children’s education because they’re forced to pay for it, and now that they don’t have to cough up anything, they won’t give a damn — yes, because people are so materialistic that the only reason education means anything is because they have to pay for it! In that case, why bother paying for it? Granted, I could be wrong, but IMHO the only people who would think that way would be the people who wouldn’t want to bother paying for it to begin with.
In any case, I wish you had at least linked to a news story about this, because my brief meanderings around Google don’t seem to be helping.
I think you’re being incredibly selfish about this. I’m just glad not everyone has your “I had it tough, so should you” mentality. That just makes the world a poorer, non-progressive place.
I don’t really know enough about how your country’s education runs because ours is totally different. Here in the US, college is SUPER expensive and some people think it should be cheaper but those who have worked their butts to graduate (and have now graduated) disagree.
I personally think we could all use a little bit of help in sending children to school… I don’t know if parents still have to pay tuition but if they do, I think it’s a good thing that they can stop worrying about having to pay for books. I don’t necessarily think children will lose the incentive to go to school because their parents won’t be bugging them cuz they had to pay for their books. They will still want to go… and this is great for kids whose parents struggle to send them to school. 
Those of you jumping the gun and calling me selfish and all of that about what I wrote should do research on some things before they talk.
In The Netherlands people that can’t afford to buy books for their children get money from the government to compensate for it and be able to buy books, that money is going to disappear and the news articles (which are in Dutch but if you want I can still post the URL) states that those people will actually get POORER because of these new laws, in fact the article states that nothing changes for the people that can afford it but those who can’t will get poorer and will lose money . In my opinion that’s not a good progression for those people, they have it hard enough as it is.
Those of you who think I hold a grudge for my parents that had to pay are way off but I feel I have the right to disagree with where my taxes are going to, and if they go to people who DON”T NEED IT instead of places where the money is really needed such as health care systems (there are more people that can’t afford health care than those who can’t afford schooling!!!) and the like.
And my attitude CHRIS, I never had a tough youth, and always had it reasonably good. The only tough thing in my life is my health so don’t mock the tough part if you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about!
After some research and the tuitions no longer need to be paid they found that children will stop going to middle school and skipping classes even more when parents don’t have to pay for it any more, that’s why they now have some laws in place where parents have to be held responsible for their children being in class. That’s partially good in my eyes but at the same time it’s not as that gets that kids off easy.
The Netherlands is generally seen (here!) as a progressive country, so it doesn’t surprise me that poorer families already receive an allowance to help them pay for their schooling. Anyway, I see your point about how this tax will take away money from those who need it as well as those who are comfortable – your view doesn’t strike me as selfish at all. Selfish would be “everyone should fend for themselves” (and here, at least, there are people who feel that way!).
I hope you haven’t seen my response as unfair, harsh or (overly) uninformed… it was certainly meant as more of a discussion/clarification-type thing. I’m sorry if it didn’t come across that way!
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In Australia, I’m fairly sure we have programs by which poorer families can get money from the government to go towards education — would you approve of that, or are you completely against your taxes funding others’ educations at all? I can live with well-off families having to pay for their children’s education, but education is such a big factor in standard of living that allowing the poor to go without is something I would find completely unacceptable.
Although, to be honest, in my heart of hearts I do believe education should be free (and paid for by taxes!).