By Dr. Ralph Thompson, ContributorIN HIS Gleaner column of October 6 Professor Stephen Vasciannie of the University of the West Indies has invited me to comment on a number of matters arising from the current education debate. He claims that I advocate removing or reducing funding for the university and asks what subjects I would like to see dropped, what research abandoned, what faculties trimmed. But I can't recall ever having framed the issue in these terms so there may actually be no disagreement between us.
What I am concerned about is student fees at the university being subsidised by more than 80%. When the university has attempted to raise the tuition fees many of the students have gone on strike claiming that they have a "right" to a university education which, without a subsidy, they would not be able to afford.
I don't buy this argument. One might argue that the citizens of a country are entitled to education to Primary level, even Secondary level, but I know of no philosophic or economic basis on which a university education for everybody can be a matter of right. It is a desideratum, to be sure, for those with a demonstrated potential to benefit from it. No young adult so qualified should be denied a university education because he or she is too poor to pay for it. I am a firm believer in equality of opportunity but this is a far cry from the prevailing attitude which seems to be that anyone who wants to have a shot at a university degree should be entitled to get it at taxpayers' expense.
UNIVERSITY FUNDING
Let me note, for the sake of argument, that if the mechanism for subsidising students' fees at the UWI is a substantial part of the overall university funding then, to this extent, I am in favour of the funding being reduced.
If the quality of the students through the Primary and Secondary levels of the education system is as poor as it seems to be, I hope that Professor Vasciannie would grant that this must affect the quality of the candidates admitted to the university. As with all systems, no matter how disabled they may be, there are always glorious exceptions - cream will rise to the top - so despite the flow of mediocrity into the university it produces brilliant exceptions of which he is a sterling example.
From a businessman's point of view, the question is whether this approach to higher education is cost- effective. The taxpayer has to pay for too much mediocrity to get the benefit of the exceptions, the top 10 per cent say, who really benefit from a university education. The rest become members of a social club, get their degrees but have no real intellectual curiosity or analytic skills and who perform in the society at a level easily reached with a good secondary education.
I see the solution to our educational problems as putting more resources into early childhood education to lift the quality of the stream at its source. I would be delighted if Government had sufficient additional resources, some $3 billion extra a year, to do this. But in discharging the burden of proof which Professor Vasciannie lays on me, my point is that if such additional resources are not available then student subsidies at the university may have to be reduced or eliminated altogether to meet an obvious priority.
WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
I hope that Professor Vasciannie is right in claiming that when push comes to shove graduates of the university who are now in positions of power in the society will be prepared to put the interest of the nation above the interest of their alma mater.
As I am sure Professor Vasciannie knows, Jamaica appears to have signed off on the World Trade Organization (WTO) convention which would require that subsidies granted by government to the University of the West Indies must also be made available to any other tertiary institution operating in Jamaica, even if foreign owned. If enforced, this would make Northern Caribbean University eligible for the same degree of subsidisation as UWI. Given the present economic climate, Jamaica simply can't afford such a regime. If all subsidies are removed I believe that some students would be able to pay all or part of their tuition and for the genuinely poor, an extended student loan facility and scholarships can take up the slack.
If the private sector was assured that government resources were being channelled to early childhood education, it would fund a generous amount of university scholarships because it would be in its own self-interest to do so. This may mean that less than 10 per cent of the Jamaican population rather than the current 15 per cent passes through the university but I hope that Professor Vasciannie would join with me in championing an education system geared to quality rather than quantity.
Dr. Ralph Thompson is a member of the National Council on Education.
