3/19/2010

Quality education doesn't come cheap

The quality of university education in Singapore has just gone up by 4% to 10%. The three state universities have just increased their fees by that amount for the Singaporean students in the next intake. If the quality goes up annually by 10% or bi annually, soon the quality will increase by 100%. I think a monkey could even become a Einstein at that rate of improvement. Singaporean students got one more thing to celebrate other than better quality education. They can feel comforted that their fees are subsidised to a tune of 50% or more compare to foreign students. I am not sure how to put it, a discount or a subsidy against market rate? One thing for sure, they are affordable. For you would not expect anyone demonstrating at the increase but grateful parents and students for the quality education that they are getting.

7 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

While the fees have been going up over the years, most of the new graduates I have met are dafter and dafter.

How come huh?

I have a theory.

Previously, they were taught by our own Singlish speaking down to Earth, money loving streetwise professors. Now, lecturers are mostly from China and India. It too doesn't help when most of the students sitting next to you are from the same two countries. So you stop thinking like Singaporeans and start acting like country bumpkins. And don't know whether these imported "professors" are what they are supposed to be.

So the increase in fees doesn't equate with an increase in quality.

OK, this is the only comment for the day. I have to go see my psychiatrist for my mental breakdown over the reported Temasek foray into the dot.com booby trap.

Hehe.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

You still can heheh!

Anonymous said...

Under the Present Leadership, we celebrate everyday as the LEADERS give us good news on an every basis. They have done their bestest to give us better than World Standards in every aspect of survivals and lvings. The only complain i have is that i do not see the people appreciating the efforts of the Leaders.

I DON'T EVEN SEE THE PEOPLE BELIEVING THE WORDS OF THE LEADERS.
SOMEWHERE THERE IS A DISCONNECT, THE LEADERS WILL DO WELL TO FIND OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH THEIR WORDS AND DEEDS.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

The leaders know that they are doing an excellent job. And they have chosen not to listen as they climb the mountain, knowing that all will be fine.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

State education is the generally the worst education money can't even buy, because state education can be offered "free" (means someone else pays) or "pay for" to hoodwink some sort of "market competition".

Also state run education is a criminal racket. The state defines the education standard, then creates the system for "acquiring" those standards and then grants "licenses" (degree, diplomas) to those who "qualify".

If you've ever run a business and employed people, you'll find that many graduates frequently display irrationality and sheer stupidity, Of course there are the smart ones too, but there are smart people without degrees -- heaps of them.

State education guarantees employment for lots of people -- on-going employment. There are so many degrees and diplomas offered these days that the idea of tertiary qualifications has "diluted". Even grad and post grad qualifications have exploded. Any "dilution" of course diminishes the inherent "value" of a spending time, effort and money pursuing such qualifications.

Few degrees, even the many “business” degrees ever teach the fee-bleeding student (and their parents) how to make money – lots of it. These “geniuses of academia” never tell you how to make money or why it is important.
They’ve convineinetly “forgot” to tell you that in the real-world of market exchanges the amount of wealth accumulated is the only OBJECTIVE measure of your success as a human being. I use the word “wealth” instead of “money”. I’ve explained the difference several times before.

Academia run by government? Forget it. Get wealthy. You can thank me later :0

Anonymous said...

Quality education doesn't come cheap, but quality education is cheap. There are so many graduates without jobs and not a few driving taxis now. What quality?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Exactly.

It ain't the size of your degree. It is how much value you can add to people's lives and how much they are willing to give you in exchange for that "value" (which has enhanced their life in some way -- increase "happiness" or decrease "unhappiness") in a spirit of free exchange.

Govt-directed "education" (so-called) instead of market-driven incentives to aquire skills -- always results in over- production of graduates in certain fields thus rendering the "surplus" un- or under- employed.

People who work for the govt are terrible at understanding the machinations of market capitalism.

Why is education neccessary? So that one has the neccessary skills and knowledge to make some "value" contribution so that our species is able to survive and flourish. all this "production" of goods to live/survive/prevail for now and in the future takes place in the general market for the fulfillment of needs/wants and desires.

But those who work for govt hate that. They HATE people having selfish needs, wants and desires. People in govt LIKE TO CONTROL other people -- especially when it comes to free-wheeling market interactions.

So the govt takes over certain institutions which arise "spontaneously" -- like education.

And then they do what govts do best: fuck it up, lose money, cause other people to lose money and remove opportunity from the private sector. (the opportunity to provide more private education)