Higher Education / University / Third Level Education– Should it be free?

A basic education is provided free of charge for young people in nearly all developed and democratic countries. However, when it comes to university, or higher education, there are many different approaches taken. In some countries (such as Finland and Sweden) higher education is still free. In other countries, higher education is purchased like any other service. In many countries (such as the UK and the USA), fees are charged to students but how much of the cost of education these cover varies greatly. Often governments offer loans and financial support to help students pay these fees. However, more and more people want to go to university, putting student funding systems under pressure. The economic downturn has hit also government budgets very hard, raising tough questions about spending priorities. As educational and economic changes occur, should Governments charge fees for higher education, or provide it for free?


Should we charge students for third level / higher education? Or is it a right which should be provided in the same way as other more basic forms of education?

Academic qualifications are commonly felt to give a person the best chance of success in life. How far is this true?



The definition of success differs from person to person and field to field. One could take economic success as a touchstone to label a person successful in life, ignoring his of her other failures, like divorce, health, inefficiency, etc. Others may look at a capacity for overcoming challenges, irrespective of what someone earns and the nature of their private life. So who is a successful person and who is a failure? Do school and college grades and examination results provide a way of predicting or ensuring future success? If that is true, then we should encourage as many young people as possible to go to university and work hard to gain formal qualifications. But is it true? Aren’t some college drop-outs like Bill Gates and Richard Branson hugely successful icons of success? And should we automatically consider the millions of young people who have not had the opportunity to gain academic certificates to be failures in life?

counter-argument outline

Here are two outlines showing the most common placement of the counter-argument. The first is probably the most common.

1. Introduction
2. Supporting point #1
3. Supporting point #2
4. Supporting point #3
5. Supporting point #4
[there can be any number of supporting points]
6. Counter-argument
7. Rebuttal
8. Conclusion

1. Counter-argument, which also serves as introduction
2. Rebuttal, which would usually include the thesis statement
3. Supporting point #1
4. Supporting point #2
5. Supporting point #3
6. Supporting point #4
[there can be any number of supporting points]
7. Conclusion

Coutner-argument

Counter-Argument

When you write an academic essay, you make an argument: you propose a thesis and offer some reasoning, using evidence, that suggests why the thesis is true. When you counter-argue, you consider a possible argument against your thesis or some aspect of your reasoning. This is a good way to test your ideas when drafting, while you still have time to revise them. And in the finished essay, it can be a persuasive and (in both senses of the word) disarming tactic. It allows you to anticipate doubts and pre-empt objections that a skeptical reader might have; it presents you as the kind of person who weighs alternatives before arguing for one, who confronts difficulties instead of sweeping them under the rug, who is more interested in discovering the truth than winning a point.

Not every objection is worth entertaining, of course, and you shouldn't include one just to include one. But some imagining of other views, or of resistance to one's own, occurs in most good essays. And instructors are glad to encounter counter-argument in student papers, even if they haven't specifically asked for it.

The Turn Against

Counter-argument in an essay has two stages: you turn against your argument to challenge it and then you turn back to re-affirm it. You first imagine a skeptical reader, or cite an actual source, who might resist your argument by pointing out

• a problem with your demonstration, e.g. that a different conclusion could be drawn from the same facts, a key assumption is unwarranted, a key term is used unfairly, certain evidence is ignored or played down;
• one or more disadvantages or practical drawbacks to what you propose;
• an alternative explanation or proposal that makes more sense.

You introduce this turn against with a phrase like One might object here that... or It might seem that... or It's true that... or Admittedly,... or Of course,... or with an anticipated challenging question: But how...? or But why...? or But isn't this just...? or But if this is so, what about...? Then you state the case against yourself as briefly but as clearly and forcefully as you can, pointing to evidence where possible. (An obviously feeble or perfunctory counter-argument does more harm than good.)

The Turn Back

Your return to your own argument—which you announce with a but, yet, however, nevertheless or still—must likewise involve careful reasoning, not a flippant (or nervous) dismissal. In reasoning about the proposed counter-argument, you may

• refute it, showing why it is mistaken—an apparent but not real problem;
• acknowledge its validity or plausibility, but suggest why on balance it's relatively less important or less likely than what you propose, and thus doesn't overturn it;
• concede its force and complicate your idea accordingly—restate your thesis in a more exact, qualified, or nuanced way that takes account of the objection, or start a new section in which you consider your topic in light of it. This will work if the counter-argument concerns only an aspect of your argument; if it undermines your whole case, you need a new thesis.

Where to Put a Counter-Argument

Counter-argument can appear anywhere in the essay, but it most commonly appears

• as part of your introduction—before you propose your thesis—where the existence of a different view is the motive for your essay, the reason it needs writing;
• as a section or paragraph just after your introduction, in which you lay out the expected reaction or standard position before turning away to develop your own;
• as a quick move within a paragraph, where you imagine a counter-argument not to your main idea but to the sub-idea that the paragraph is arguing or is about to argue;
• as a section or paragraph just before the conclusion of your essay, in which you imagine what someone might object to what you have argued.

But watch that you don't overdo it. A turn into counter-argument here and there will sharpen and energize your essay, but too many such turns will have the reverse effect by obscuring your main idea or suggesting that you're ambivalent.

Counter-Argument in Pre-Writing and Revising

Good thinking constantly questions itself, as Socrates observed long ago. But at some point in the process of composing an essay, you need to switch off the questioning in your head and make a case. Having such an inner conversation during the drafting stage, however, can help you settle on a case worth making. As you consider possible theses and begin to work on your draft, ask yourself how an intelligent person might plausibly disagree with you or see matters differently. When you can imagine an intelligent disagreement, you have an arguable idea.

And, of course, the disagreeing reader doesn't need to be in your head: if, as you're starting work on an essay, you ask a few people around you what they think of topic X (or of your idea about X) and keep alert for uncongenial remarks in class discussion and in assigned readings, you'll encounter a useful disagreement somewhere. Awareness of this disagreement, however you use it in your essay, will force you to sharpen your own thinking as you compose. If you come to find the counter-argument truer than your thesis, consider making it your thesis and turning your original thesis into a counter-argument. If you manage to draft an essay without imagining a counter-argument, make yourself imagine one before you revise and see if you can integrate it.

Copyright 1999, Gordon Harvey (adapted from The Academic Essay: A Brief Anatomy), for the Writing Center at Harvard University

Sentences

The pressure of our ageing population and social tensions arising from the wealth gap called urgently for a broader consensus and greater willingness in society to confront these issues.

It is not as if the government has a blind spot on education, health and care of an ageing population.

Hong Kong loses out on overseas talent when people cannot find suitable schools for their children.

Measures to tweak land supply and tackle the lack of affordable flats meet public expectations, so long as officials are mindful of past lessons that too much interference in the market can cause uncertainty and confusion.

That the way Hong Kong has emerged stronger from the financial tsunami speaks for itself.

We trust he is right that the city will overcome the many difficulties coming its way.

Financial Secretary John Tsang has finally unveiled the long-awaited annual budget, which concerns all sectors of the society, and the general public at large.

Although Hong Kong’s outlook appears optimistic, we still face a string of stern challenges and a bumpy road ahead.

We believe that all these measures demonstrated that the government is committed to addressing the plight of the underprivileged.

However, to combat another wave of global economic meltdown, or any unexpected calamities and hardship, a huge reserve is one of the most effective leverages that the government might be able to exercise. Therefore, we feel called upon to point out that our leap forward is never plain sailing.

New Sentences

Now that the flu season is upon us again, public hospitals and accident and emergency departments have been flooded with patients suffering flu-like symptoms, with some requiring intensive care. The government is providing free seasonal flu vaccines to target vulnerable groups, and subsidising vaccination by private doctors. But again the public response has been poor.

Social stability should be of overriding importance. Any political changes will be meaningless if the country falls prey to chaos in the end.

If the current situation continues to deteriorate, it will not only be nightmarish for the 80 million Egyptians, but also perilous to regional peace and stability.

That almost all cities that once banned firecrackers have made the annual Spring Festival an exception reveals how indispensable firecrackers are to the Chinese celebration.

A lunar new year holiday devoid of the spark of firecrackers would be insipid and incomplete.

But as people return to work from their weeklong holiday, the same old questions surrounding firecrackers have resurfaced. While lighting up the night skies and adding to the festive atmosphere, they also pollute and injure. While few complain about the noise, most of us have experienced what they can do to the air quality.

China’s fight against inflation will determine its chances of maintaining sound and stable growth.

The best way to tackle the problem is to arm people with knowledge and skills. The more people understand the food they eat, the more likely they are to respect it and eat a balanced diet.

Diplomacy is more than following the letter of the law; it is also about avoiding doing and saying what is wrong.

Writing Topic

In a modern society, it has been observed in some countries that the elderly are not duly respected. Discuss the reasons why this has occurred and the effects it might have on our society.