From: golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy)
Subject: Re: Ontario "socialism"
Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 16:39:40 GMT

In article <BvG7vE.n56@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> dbowman@shade (Don A. Bowman) writes:
>Gerald Olchowy (golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca) wrote:
>: >
>: >	Who  decides how many vouchers get issued?
>: >
>: 
>: Seems like an good business opportunity for our oversupply of
>: Ph.D's, and expatriate Ph.D's, who might take the entrepreneurial
>: jump and create new universities dedicated to quality teaching.
>
>Yes, but who will fund them? If the government makes X dollars available, and
>there are more students than can be handled, where will the money come from?

You make the system self-financing...people who use vouchers will be
required to pay them back either by treating them as a loan, or through
a higher income tax rate, or through some form of service.

>If the students end up paying the total to go to one of these "special"
>schools, you'll end up with a hierarchical system of education in which the
>rich get one education, and the poorer people get another. Speaking as one
>who comes from a lower class family, I would be extremely annoyed if rich
>people could simply exercise their family power to get a better education.
>

What do you think is happening now to our "public" system as tuition
rises, class sizes rise, and the quality of teaching deteriorates.

With a voucher system, good teaching colleges could exist where you
can get a quality education...unfortunately, I cannot design a system that
will allow you to go to a university with people who insist on being
elitist in their association.  That is only important anyway, if you
believe that who you know is more important than what you know.

Knowledge is freedom and knowledge is democratic.  
The system can be designed to give you equal
opportunity for knowledge, but not equal opportunity for contacts.

>: 
>: These small private universities would take the enrollment burden
>: of the "big" schools and allow them to pursue their main interest
>: which is research anyway.
>
>These small private universities would take the RICH students away, and leave
>us as second class citizens.
>

Open your eyes and see what is happening to our public universities...
the rich don't go to public universities already...the rich always
will have advantages by virtue of their wealth....
...a voucher system would be universally available, and individually
empowering...rich people are always going to have an advantage...
taking away the advantages rich people have does not empower
poor people.  You don't need a rich person sitting beside you to
get a good education.

>: 
>: The Canadian system is missing quality teaching-oriented colleges
>: which would be feeders to large research-oriented Ph.D granting
>: institutions.
>
>I don't think we're lacking quality. I think we're lacking money. I don't
>feel that I'm missing out on a quality education, I just wish that the
>university had more money.
>

Money is one of the issues a voucher system addresses...

The whole education and training system ultimately has to be
financed via "voucher" system for the flexibility required
in the emerging global economic environment and multicultural
environment.

The bureaucratic educational
structure has to be smashed...and made consumer friendly, which
is what a voucher system does.

Gerald
Newsgroups: soc.culture.canada,can.politics