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We need to stop calling it “free” college. It’s not free. It’s a worthwhile investment we all pay for and reap the benefits of.
We don’t call it a “free military.”
Define "worthwhile investment "
the health of your people is absolutely a worthwhile investment by all definitions. It’s the right thing to do/ethical, it makes them happy/support their government if you’re thinking politically, and a healthy populace does more for society/the country/economy/whatever you care about.
What’s with the bait nonsense say what you want to say.
There is an obsessed with going to university - yes education is excellent but to end up in so much debt at such a young age is awful.
Especially the stoopid requirement for so many "entry" level corporate roles that demand a degree, despite the role never using any skills from that degree. Recruitment seems to think having a degree automatically means a person with a degree will be the best hire.
And trades - they are overshadowed because having a degree seems to be a better route career wise.
I am not obsessed with going to university. I think everybody should have access to university. That does not mean everybody should go.
We have somewhat started to fund trade schools and community colleges and such here in the US so the assumption would be that if we had a universal education of some kind it would include community colleges and trade school and conservatories.
Agreed that there must be greater access to education. Its just sucks for the less well off to be saddled with so much debt to do so.
An educated electorate.
Having a bunch of uneducated dumbasses fucks up your country.
It also isn't free for people here, it's paid. They pay you (not a very large amount but still) to go to any education above the mandatory education.
Yes that’s what I’m saying.
College is free, uni isn't
Not our fault just one country uses the word incorrectly
Uni is free if you live in a sane part of the UK
Scotland: the only part of the UK that consistently votes left of centre.
You're missing the point. They're saying it's not free, it's funded by the government/tax dollars.
Also languages develop regionally and sometimes use different words. It's so 2010 to assert regional differences are "wrong." Gag me with a spoon.
I don’t understand why that matters ultimately? The point is “free” is not a good word for it, whether it’s college or university. It’s not “free” and we don’t call anything else we pay for with taxes “free.” All it does is create an easy attack vector for detractors and misrepresent it.
I think free is a great word for something you can rock up to and collect without paying, and you don't have to remortgage your house because your parent got cancer.
You do pay for it. You don’t get free roads. You don’t get free hospitals. You don’t get a free military. They are funded by tax dollars, that’s the entire point. Yet we say “free college.”
Yes I do get free hospitals. I live in the UK. Hospital visits are free and I don't pay for them. I pay for parking if I park on site, but I absolutely do not pay for the healthcare. The healthcare is free. My daughter gets it free, I get it free, unemployed people get it free, billionaires get out free, everyone gets it free, no one is charged for it. The government pays the whole bill. Unlimited healthcare based on need, no cost.
It's earning a salary that isn't free. That costs me 20% above a certain threshold. But, no, the hospitals are completely free.
They’re not free. You pay taxes to fund them. Your countrymen pay taxes to fund them. You are all paying for it collectively all the time, which is a great thing to do and is a worthwhile investment. It is a sane and sustainable way of running healthcare. But it is not free.
You say the government pays for it: where do you think the government gets its money? For the UK it’s not entirely from exploiting former colonial vassals anymore, y'all pay taxes. Same as the rest of us.
You're twisting words to mean what you want them to mean. The healthcare is free but earning a salary is not. It's very simple. You don't pay for the healthcare, ever, no matter how often on expensive it is, but earning a salary is not free, and you get charged every time according to how much you get. The healthcare is free for everyone. Free. No charge. Unlimited. Free.
No I am literally describing how the system works. I understand that when you go to a hospital you don’t ever open your wallet. It’s because you all already paid for it.
No, that's bending reality to suit your right wing narrative. The reality is that the healthcare is free, but earning a salary isn't. It doesn't matter how much tax (if any) someone has paid or will pay, it's a completely irrelevant number, because the healthcare is free for everyone.
The vast majority of public NHS funding comes from general taxation and National Insurance contributions. A small proportion of funding (1% of the total Department of Health and Social Care budget in 2022/23) comes from patient charges for services such as prescriptions and dental treatment. The level of NHS funding in a given year is set by central government through the Spending Review process.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Servicesystems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation (plus a small amount from National Insurance contributions), and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people.[4] The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).[5]
Right wing narrative? Dude the hospital has to be funded from somewhere and it’s primarily taxes. And I am very much in favor of your healthcare system, I want to pay those taxes! I think the American healthcare system is broken and insane. We pay taxes for it and we pay insurance and we pay out of pocket. It’s absolutely ridiculous and poorly built.
I don’t think you understand your own system or you are just so committed to vilifying me you’re just not reading what I am writing? You called me entitled in the other comment? I can’t follow what you’re saying anymore.
You pay taxes, those taxes pay for a lot of the systems you depend on that your government provides. This includes healthcare. It’s not a critique, it’s a good way of doing things and it’s reality. I don’t understand what you’re so upset about.
I feel like it depends on your translation and how you define “free”.
I like to compare it to the differences between expenses and costs. Which is something people often confuse. Expenses are talking about the outflow of money and costs are talking about the effect of it on the bottom line.
“Free” education is free, because it’s not an expense it can be considered and indirect cost. It might never be something that is paid if you never pay taxes for whatever reason.
People also consider their social security income free because they don’t need to do more for it than filling in a form often online
I think I understand your concern, but how do you very briefly describe what's happening a better way?
Schools in the US are "free", although they are generally funded by taxes. I think if you said to most people that society benefits from a good basic education for everyone, they would agree.
If you said that should apply to higher education, it doesn't sound like too much of a stretch.
If you then said "we should have the same standard of education and funding for the entire nation", many people would say "No way", because America, and that would mean centralized funding and standards and stuff. It's always that last part.
National education. Funded degrees. Paid-for education. Universal education. Lots of options.
We don’t call it free healthcare do we?
yes we do
We do in the UK. Because it's free.
It’s called the National Health System and it’s paid for with taxes, yes?
Earning a salary isn't free. You get charged all the time for that.
Going to hospital is free. You get unlimited visits and any procedure you need at zero cost to you, taxpayer or not, no charge. Free.
I am not having the exact same conversation in 2 places.
It looks to me like you are, because you said the same nonsense lots of places, but that's up to you, I guess.
Because I didn’t realize it was the same person in both. What a weird thing to get hostile about.
I'm hostile about your repeated and fallacious claim that healthcare isn't free, when the truth is that the healthcare is free, but earning a salary isn't. You're charged for the earnings about certain thresholds, and you're not charged for the healthcare. I contradicted you in only two of the many places you posted the same nonsense right wing talking points, and then you start complaining about my two versus your many.
Username checks out.