I want to talk about something I’m really irritated about for the moment. In Sweden, almost everything is “free”. But if we all know our Freedman, we should also know that there’s no such thing as a free lunch = there’s only a matter of someone else’s paying for you. So that’s a very frustrating thing. And if it is “free” to study, everyone will attend to the University. In Sweden we have a 50 % goal (so they say) and that means that 50 % of all those who have their commencement each year should enroll at some Uni. That means that our government aims for quantity instead of quality. Why do they do that? Well, the reasons for that are dual. 1st, they want Sweden to look good abroad in different kinds of index and charts (for instance in the UN). 2nd, it is a class war relic. They want to minimize the cleft between graduates and workers so that we who study for 5-6 years at Uni, becoming teachers, physicists and physicians, shouldn’t think that we are anything special. We should not even be proud. If everyone has attended to Uni studies, what is so special about it then, anyway?
There is more about this, for instance, as I said, school is free, meaning that someone else’s paying for it (by tax money). This means that the charwoman pays the education, books and living, for the future physician. Really, how fair is that? Even more, because of the State (Party with big P (or S)) wants us all to enroll at THEIR Universities (yes, they are all state-owned) almost everyone in the society will be depended on the State. This is so because there is only one place to turn to if you want to have money for your studies. And guess who’s in charge of that hell-hole? Yea – the State! And since they want everyone to enroll at Uni, even child minders have their own programme for their future profession, everyone, almost, ends up in debt to the State. And the one who’s indebted are never free, right? So Sweden is the country of the unfree and the not so very brave.
It is also very easy to study if you are not serious with your studies. We have a lot of woolly courses and programmes, like feminist theory and practice or 43664 computer courses, that you can enroll to and then live a great life on someone else’s (the charwoman’s) money. That’s Sweden for you!
What do you think? =)
How would you like the school system to work then?
Calle Calle Calle…….
It seemed that everything in this world irritate you!? How would you like the school system work then? Any suggestion???? Curious!!!!!!
Mach
“Child minders”…. är det förskolelärare? Jag är en blivande sån här på Island…. Hoppas verkligen inte att du är en av dom som tror att vi pluggar tre år på högskola för att “passa” barn…. Jag anser mitt yrke vara mycket mer betydande än så…. Många i dagens samhälle har ingen aning om vad som sker inne på förskolorna….
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yo biatch, jag vet inte du. Jag håller med om mycket du skriver annars men det här med skolsystemet…svårt. Din text känns ogenomtänkt och inte minst nedlåtande mot..tja, de flesta. Tänk själv var du vore idag om Sverige inte haft gratis universitet, chans att plugga upp sina betyg efter gymnasiet samt möjlighet till studielån. Jag kan bara tala för mig själv men jag skulle knappast sitta på min futon i Tokyo nu om det inte vore för min rätt att sälja min själ till CSN. Även detta en sorts frihet.
Och du, seriöst, förskolelärare. Jag vet inte men om jag någonsin får barn vill jag gärna att de ska “passas” av någon med kompetens.
grattis till en fin liten blog annars.
and don’t even get me started on the feminist theory thing. alkfksgh
hej syster yster! jag saknar dig jættemycket! tyværr har jag inte sett Björk NAGONTING hær under den tiden jag varit hær! :S lite trakigt..ville skaffa en autograf at dig sa klart. Min text ær inte menad att vara nedlatande.
Jag ska skriva ett nytt blogginlægg som motiverar det förra! Det var en del som undrade över mina “stands” pa just detta.
Tack för att du kommenterade!
Kveðja!
//din bror Calle
Great text.. I agree with you, but that probably didn’t come as a surprise. Just wish you were a little bit more of a libertarian in other questions too
As older I get, freedom in any matters seems to be more and more unavoidable. But when it comes down to discrimination, I hope I always stand true to the idea that it is better to support the oppressed and his/her freedom not to be discriminated, rather then the pure economical one for the oppressor!
Hello,
I’m a stranger who stumbled on your blog, but I was interested in the subject and wanted to reply. Hope you don’t mind.
In the U.S., which is theoretically free-market, but in reality is at least partially socialist in it’s economic structure, we have numerous universities both private and public. I think it is telling that the public universities started long after the private ones were established. It makes me think that for all of their benefits, the private universities have thier failings as well.
In the first place, private universities are very expensive! They were traditionally the priveledge of the elite because of their high cost. The truth of the matter is that very few people could ever afford private universites on their own. In this and the follow-up post, you mention scholarships as a means of affording tuition, but there are limits to what is available. And anyway, it sounds more like a privatized, guilt-free welfare system for yourself. After all, even if “the charwoman” does not pay for your education, someone besides yourself does. The reality is that private education is not affordable to most people without substantial assistance, and like you said, nothing is free. Someone else is paying your way somehow.
Public, state-owned universities came along much later in order to open higher education to more people, as well as the for the social benefit of raising the eduactional achievement of the population in general. Those seem like admirable and beneficial goals.
In the U.S., they are run by individual states, and state residents get lower tuition. In my home state, students paid a tuition that was based on the cost of running the school, minus the amount that an individual paid in state taxes for the university system. So, despite being a tax-supported school, each individual student (who was able) paid his own way completely. People who could not pay, the very ones unlikely to benefit from higher education otherwise, could get assistance.
In that case, yes, the imaginary charwoman would pay a tiny amount to put that person through college, but it would certainly be to her advantage to have another educated fellow citizen with better employment opportunities than someone who could not find higher paying work. Plus, it would most likely be her own children, if she had them, who would benefit from the system.
The public university system ultimately benefits those poor charwomen who concern you so by improving the opportunities of her own family and of society in general through higher educational attainment, which would simply be unavailable to the majority of people otherwise.
Another issue that troubles you is that you do not seem to feel “free” to think and do as you like in the public university system in Sweden. Of course, I cannot speak from personal experience about Swedish universities, but I have attended both private and public schools here in the U.S.. Believe me, it is a fantasy to think that there is ANY institution that does not have an agenda that it wants you to follow, a way of thinking behaving and acting that they wish you to conform to. Everyone and everything human has an agenda for other humans, and it’s MORE likely to be the case in an institution that is traditionally funded by rich, conservative people, as private universities usually are. Most private universities of any age were founded as religious schools and retain a religious affiliation. Do you think they are going to let you be more “free” in any way than a school founded and run by a socialist government? No way!
Hope this provise a little food for thought, and hope you dont mind a post from a stranger.
John