Hacker News Reader

It’s never free. People in Europe say it is when they want to take a jab at the USA. But the reality is that earning potential is severely limited in Europe. And let’s not pretend that every degree obtained is beneficial to society. People get degrees with no marketable skills all the time. And the losses are distributed among all the taxpayers.

View on HN

It costs someone something, but no one their freedom. Mass ignorance is the opposite.

As for degrees with no use, pretty sure these are the byproducts of education for profit, with heavy marketing passing as administrative expense.

Maybe you could divide the system in two halves: 1) Of national interest, 2) Discretionary.

As for earning potential, it has nothing to do with free education, as so many high-earners in the US were educated by such systems.

It’s not free, it’s paid by my taxes. I don’t get why you keep calling it that. That’s why we get paid less in the EU: subsidizing everything for everyone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com