A Privilege Bernard Shaw Analysis

Improved Essays
While Bernard Shaw creates a character with the values of demanding rights of education under any conditions and expecting others to compensate, my parents raised me under very contrasting circumstances. Throughout my upbringing, they taught me to work hard, every action has a consequence, and sometimes life is just not fair. These phrases seem harsh in retrospect, but as a child I simply accepted them, and these lessons have utterly shaped who I am today, especially in regards to rights and privileges. For education specifically, it should wholeheartedly be considered a privilege for a number of reasons. Visualize back to high school. In education streams, the system tends to comprise two types of individuals, ones that strive to maintain …show more content…
With this scenario in mind, individuals should perceive higher education, such as college, as a privilege that he or she must work hard towards because said individual will be held responsible for paying for it along with the possibilities of no longer having the capability to pursue it in certain conditions, such as a low grade or capital offence, or maybe even multiple minor offences. When pricing education with a value of a privileged experience, individuals will strive to a greater extent and the results rid the problem of disenfranchisement of a particular group.
To better the education system and the enrichment of students, education must hold the equivalent of a privilege instead of a right that individuals can take for granted. The premise of this argument collates both the latterly mentioned segments, whether institutions have a right to deny education and the overarching question as to who to pay for it. As a
…show more content…
While some claim raising the price might result in brilliant people failing to reach their potential because they cannot afford college, this claim has little validity. If students truly desired their education and upheld equivalently with how the particular college views it, they would use their brilliant minds to obtain it through financial aid, scholarships, or simply working hard. Money can only enable an individual so far, students need to learn with education how to live efficiently and make the most out of what they have. They gain this insight once they understand they have to work and earn their education as a result of the privileged status rather than an entitlement. When they realize others will not pay for their livelihood they will work harder to provide for themselves and raise their own standard of living with the education they value more as a result. According to Andrea Schwartz, an active educator, “people value what costs them something. Learning is a privilege, not a right” (IN TEXT). With this said, individuals having to pay for college understand the gravity of performing well and will not gamble their own money away. For instance, my parents with their strict values, will not pay for my college. As a result, I do not feel bitter or turn to sue them. Instead I pushed hard and applied for scholarships and financial aid,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    College is a coupon for success. In today’s generation, one is seen to be most successful and more likely to achieve accomplishments if they have a degree; in addition, the better the degree, the more qualifications are perceived to be prosperous. The point in general is that college, itself, holds a lot of potential that affects an individual’s life tremendously, therefore students see they have the right to verdict and combat for the grade in which they consider is deserving and reasonable. In Brent Staples’ essay, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” he gives reasoning for the great grade inflation that is steadily increasing.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the two essays, “Pay Your Own Way!” By Audrey Rock-Richardson, and “Who Should pay for College?” by Yvonne Joy Landry, they both write about who they believe should pay and give very good reasons for their decision. Rock-Richardson feels like students should pay for their own college education while Landry believes parents should pay. Parents should pay for their son or daughter’s…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cassidy never picks a side regarding whether or not a higher education is necessary for the success of a person. However, he presents both sides and provides strong arguments for both cases. Cassidy expresses how the expensive costs of college can make or break a person’s decision regarding whether or not they want to attend. He states, “Students in the United States pay about four times more than their peers in countries elsewhere” (Cassidy, 2015, p.2). The United States is one of the only places in the world to have such high costs for college.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Education in schools has long been a heated topic, especially in regards to what its purpose is. On one hand, some, such as the ACSD Committee, argue that education’s purpose is “to provide for the fullest possible development of each learner for living morally, creatively, and productively in a democratic society.” However, others identify a far more critical purpose of education, such as that of Jean Anyon. Anyon theorizes in her article “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” that the function of our educational systems is to uphold the structure of today’s society that keeps the working class majority oppressed and its top 1% superior to the working class through the way the curriculum is taught. As someone who has been in school…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As education is something we take for granted today, the idea that education up until recently, has been considered a luxury – available only to those able and willing to afford it, is surreal to us. As the demand for necessary universal education increased, opinions on schooling have shifted. In Horace Mann 's report for the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1848, he places confidence in the ability of education to be able to give people of all backgrounds an equal opportunity for success. He describes education as “the great equalizer of the conditions of men, – the balance-wheel of the social machinery”. Mann idealizes education as a force that will erase all class divides between people and provide them a sense of individualism.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    College Tuition Inflation, a Dilemma College has been described as almost necessity to prosper in the United States. Then why is it that tuition for college changes depending on how much your family earns? Or, why is it that majority of America either drops out of college or simply, does not attend? The ticket price of a higher education should not vary as much as it does. Even with this variation, there is still a struggle that occurs with many families.…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethics in Education Ethics are an important part of education. Throughout the history of education in the United States there has been a struggle to ensure ethical relations to all members of the educational community. It is difficult to ensure that all students receive equal access to education and services when the country was founded in wide reaching turmoil in which many believed that some did not have the same value or the same right to receive an equitable education. Throughout the EDAD 626 course many of these challenges have been introduced, and the struggle to overcome inequality and ensure ethical treatment for all students has been observed. As a society, the United States has come a long way in the last hundred years in ensuring…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Horace Mann – Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education (1848) On May 4, 1796, Horace Mann was born in Franklin, Massachusetts. Horace Mann is the first great American advocate of public education and is known as the “Father of the Common School”. Mann advocated that all children should receive equal schooling in reading, writing, arithmetic, and science; although he never received such education. He was born into poverty, but encouraged by his parents to become an educated man.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Khalifa Almazrouei Bess Myers Writing 121 24 October 2014 Should Student Pay that Much For Colleges? In today’s time, it cost thousands of dollars every year in tuition to go to college in America.…

    • 1568 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her article, “A New Course”, Magdalena Kay, an associate professor of English, questions the ideal of education, innovation, openness,and self-fulfillment, then points out the problems of higher education. In her lifetime, Magdalena Kay acquired her Bachelor of Arts at Harvard and PhD at UC Berkeley. Dr. Kay now teaches British and Irish literature at the University of Victoria. Kay claims that a change must be done to problems within higher education such as, the increase of tuition, the decline of college ideals, college’s true purpose, etc., in order to save the future of higher education. College education is a “work factory”, an on the job training facility, to prepare students and acquire the ideal jobs of each individual to survive in our innovative world rather than experiencing personal and intellectual growth and becoming like minded individuals throughout one’s time in college.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They Say I Say Analysis

    • 2196 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the book, “They Say, I Say” chapter fourteen discusses the necessity for tertiary education. The fundamental focus of chapter fourteen is to determine whether or not higher education offers the bang for your buck. The chapter initiates disputes beginning with the article, “Are Colleges Worth The Price of Admission?” by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. This article conveys a controversial issue of the rising cost of admissions and the descending quality of college education.…

    • 2196 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should the cost of college tuition be lowered? Many students would answer this question with a definite “yes”, arguing that education needs to be affordable. Now that society is making college education the new element for most jobs, many people now have to gain a higher education degree for the job they prefer. “In the past couple decades; a college education has been promoted as a necessity for success in life.” (At Issue: College Education).…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should College Be Free? Over the past few years, the cost of higher education has become unbearable for most. The cost for an opportunity to become more educated is quite frightening. On average, public colleges cost $32,762 while private colleges are priced at $42,419 on average (Bridgestock, 2015).…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Does having free College education accessible to everyone make college more appealing? Would having free college education draw in more students to take classes? Would the percent of students graduating in upcoming years rise if schooling was free? Really no one knows the answers because college is far from being free.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    School is a necessary system worldwide to invest in a society 's future. The primary argument as to why educational institutions should be free in the U.S. is not to give everyone the equal opportunity to education as stated by Lawrence (a professor of History emeritus at SUNY Albany) although it is one of the reasons, the primary reason is to increase the number of educated workers to hopefully improve our economy. It is stated that an “educated work force has become an essential component of economic growth and competitiveness (Student Aid Alliance). However, college tuition filters out those who are not willing to pay for their education and also funds universities so that they are able to function and upgrade their facilities. College should not be free because it would lead to tax raises, the value of a degree would decline, and the overall quality of the educational environment would decrease.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays