Since the beginning of mankind, all human beings have and always will be selfish. There is no such thing a selfless good deed and altruism has ceased to exist. Selfishness is what allowed survival of the fittest. Julian Barnes touches on the subject in “The Visitors”, the second chapter of his novel, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters. In doing so, he relates two events in which a monkey and a man, Franklin Hughes, are left to make the ultimate decision of saving a loved one or making a tragic sacrifice. Through the image of the monkey and Franklin’s story, Barnes agrees that self-interest always triumphs over altruism, and this can still be seen in today’s day and age through issues such as inflation on health insurance, and college education. One of Barnes’ examples as to why self-interest always triumphs over altruism, as mentioned before, is the cruel monkey experiment.
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Less than fifty years ago, tuition for UC systems was free for California residents up until 1970. Since then, college tuition has been increasing dramatically being one of the largest source of funds. Adam Davidson states on the NY Times, “Counterintuitively, the surest way to improve equality of access to elite schools might be to raise the cost of admission even further. Rich students paying the full price would make more aid, in money and educational support, available to be transferred to the best students from poor families and lower-performing schools” (Davidson). This shows how elite schools are increasing their tuition costs for their benefit and their competition. In order to keep up with the rival, colleges need to increase tuition and prerequisites. If elite schools are doing this for their self-interest, it’s safe to say that public school systems are doing this as well. As Barnes argues, It’s not for the best interest of the students, but for the self-interest of the
Less than fifty years ago, tuition for UC systems was free for California residents up until 1970. Since then, college tuition has been increasing dramatically being one of the largest source of funds. Adam Davidson states on the NY Times, “Counterintuitively, the surest way to improve equality of access to elite schools might be to raise the cost of admission even further. Rich students paying the full price would make more aid, in money and educational support, available to be transferred to the best students from poor families and lower-performing schools” (Davidson). This shows how elite schools are increasing their tuition costs for their benefit and their competition. In order to keep up with the rival, colleges need to increase tuition and prerequisites. If elite schools are doing this for their self-interest, it’s safe to say that public school systems are doing this as well. As Barnes argues, It’s not for the best interest of the students, but for the self-interest of the