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Would you look at that, Brazil has all of those! The problem with UHC is that right wing politicians have been doing everything in their power to dismantle it ever since its inception.
The previous govt (fucking bozo) was also keen on “isn’t it better to have some work and no rights, rather than having rights and no work?”
Public universities, while being free, often can only be attended by the well off, since class times might be all over the week (Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning AND night), fucking anyone that needs to work to sustain themselves.
Paid sick leave exists in some US states, for example vermont. It’s not a lot but it’s better than nothing.
Sadly we are all not blessed by having Bernie as a governor.
Bernie isn’t our governor. Republican Phil Scott is. With ~70% of the vote.
Whilst you are correct, he said a governor, not the governor. So they were implying your Congress members and senators are also governing bodies. (Bernie being one of your 2 senators)
Reddit tier well ackshually level comment
What an idiot
Yeah. The Democrats screwed up that opportunity for us. Twice.
Free college is no longer a thing here in the UK. But our student loan terms are bloody generous.
Luckily there’s still many other important things such as food safety, workplace safety, consumer protection… um…
Add disaster management and informing people about disease outbreaks ans product recalls! America is so great about… um.
The world isn’t this black and white, so you can’t just compare things at a basic level like this
For example the Netherlands has intuition fee’s for universities. It’s about 2500 euro per student per year. I’d much rather have it free, but it’s still nothing compared to the 50K or 100K some people pay for an American University
And the UK for that matter. You only get free education up to A Levels (18 years old).
If you want a degree then you pay for it.
Hey, leave Scotland out of this. We get tuition fees paid plus a student loan which you can just sort of never pay back 👌
Similar in Canada. It may not be free, but it’s ridiculously cheap compared to what the US deals with and we still have great financial assistance for those who can’t afford that.
Exactly. Germany also has free Universities but there are mandatory charges you have to pay in order to study. Its just not a university fee but a fee for a mandatory university service (still mutch lower than other countries with university fees).
Same in Austria (27,50€ per year)
Republicans: Don’t care, owned the libs.
What was that quote? “A Republican would eat shit if they thought a Democrat would have to smell it”?
We used to have free college, but college students protested things which pissed off Reagan so he campaigned against it
This is new to me
Indeed, but nothing is for free and we pay for the so-called “free” services through taxes. Yes, the 1st Class EU members are way ahead of the piss poor US labor laws and public services. Thanks to the MAGAts, working conditions will become 3rd World.
One matter, the blue-collar apprenticeship system in Germany is outstanding and the only organization that comes close are the trade unions in the USA, but it depends on which local you are in. Some are superb and some are WTF.
Yes healthcare is paid for via taxes so it isn’t strictly speaking isn’t free, but it also isn’t the same as paying for health insurance. For one thing you don’t pay more money just because you’ve got a Pre-Existing medical condition. In a way everyone pays less because all of the people that would otherwise pay for private healthcare, still pay the taxes, so everyone else is being subsidized by the rich, who in the US wouldn’t contribute to anyone else’s healthcare.
I don’t think anyone ends up paying more in taxes than they would if we operated under the US private health care system.
So while your point is strictly speaking true, it’s also a bit pedantic.
No disrespect to the guy individually but “it’s not free, it’s paid for by taxes” is mentioned every single time when this conversation comes up.
Everybody knows. Nobody actually thinks these these things appear out of thin air. We all know how taxes pay for public services and employment rights.
I love the way Germany has trade unions that are trade wide rather than smaller unions. I wish we could import that to America.
Well, there’s one country I’m not moving to. It amuzes me that a first world country, hell, a global superpower, doesn’t have any of that stuff, it would benefit everyone, especially free healthcare because you wouldn’t have to worry about going bankrupt just to get that surgery you know you need. It doesn’t even have to be free, just making it affordable for everyone is already a huge step.
We’re a first world country for the top 10% of the population and a third world country for the bottom 90%.
America isn’t a first world country. It favors the rich in the same way as most African and Central Asian nations.
The first/second/third world designation is a cold war relic. America is first world by definition, but we probably should have ditched the whole framework after the Berlin Wall fell.
I agree that it should no longer be used in a modern context. It’s like calling Russia the USSR; people usually know what you mean, but it doesn’t make sense, and when talking about specifically American geopolitics, it’s easy to misunderstand what is meant if you are older than 35.
Yet it still considers itself a global superpower with the biggest economy in the world (or one of the biggest, I can’t even remember). To me, it’s just laughable that they made it to this point.
Superpower in terms of military dominance maybe, but that’s about it.
You just made everything make sense.
FYI, many Americans do have many of these things, they just aren’t mandated or evenly distributed to all citizens.
It’s still fucked, though.
Do you really have it if your employer can take it away?
Right, which is worse in many ways.
Weird.
It amuzes me that a first world country, hell, a global superpower, doesn’t have any of that stuff
They imported workers from countries that have free education.
It’s not strictly true collage or university as it’s know in the rest of the world, in the UK it’s only Scotland that gets free tuition, not the rest of us, higher education which is 16-18 is free
In France, college is free only if you’re from a underpriviledged social class, and only for a limited time.
I didn’t qualify as “boursier”, my tuition was around 400€/year through out bachlore and master degrees (école d’ingénieurs). It’s not so expensive. I still was able to claim 90€/month of help for housing (CAF). My friends who qualified paid 0€ for tuition, and they also got more for housing but I don’t remember how much. This was from 2011~2016.
In south Germany today, a foreigner, who can’t claim any financial help, has to pay
3000~4000€/semester1500€/semester.Still far far away from what education costs in USA from what I’ve heard.
Edit: Corrected the price of tuition in Germany.
I’m a foreigner without access to financial aid paying ~€400/semester in middle Germany for a master’s degree (bachelor’s is €100/semester less). Granted, I’m now married to a German, but I wasn’t when I started the program and the cost didn’t change when I got married.
I would honestly shop around a little if I were you, other universities should be much cheaper. Unless you’re including rent, I guess.
After asking more precise information to the concerned person: Stuttgart university, non-EU foreigner has to pay 1500€/semester. If married to EU citizen, it becomes 190€/semester.
That’s insanely expensive and they should probably transfer (edit: I don’t know them or their situation, maybe they’re happy with it, but they could certainly save money elsewhere). Lots of businesses target wealthy and/or desperate foreigners, and that sounds like there’s something funky going on. I didn’t even meet my husband until I was partway through my studies and I’m not an eu citizen, so it’s not because of that.
I’ve learned that if something is too geared towards foreign students, I’m probably getting taken advantage of somehow, because it’s really disturbingly common. I’m lucky, in that I don’t stick out much (tall, pale, and with a super German sounding name) and I’ve got C2 German and a background in contracts, and I’m still frequently seen as an easy mark by landlords, cell phone services, banks (?!), and other businesses with variable and opaque pricing.
Our local university charges $440/year for parking :/
How much is tuition?
Some have different tuition for if you’re in state or from out of state, so around 10K usually for in state and around 20K for out of state, but some are 30K to 60K for the fancier universities in my state.
That’s per year or total?
I’m pretty sure it’s per year, it’s been a while since I looked at tuitions but the in / out of state tuitions for my school (8k and 33k) match what they list on the schools website for a full academic year for in and out of state students.
That’s just tuition so it doesn’t include cost of the dorm (8k), meal plans (5 or 6k depending on the level), and books (estimated $700), among other fees and stuff.
Foreigners from outside the EU pay between 3000€ and 4000€ by year (not semester) today in France, but licence, master and even PhD are cheaper than 400€ for European students. We are lucky, but still it’s not free.
It sure is not free. I am very fortunate it didn’t have to worry about money during my studies, as my parents were supporting me. But for my friend who was “boursier” and didn’t have to pay anything for the tuition, he still had to go in debt in order to have money for all the essentials (groceries, gas, etc). Studying engineering in France it not something you can do while having a part time job. We had around 35h of classes per week not including self study, practicing for exams and the almost mandatory parties :D
Almost mandatory?!
Yeah, no, livving isn’t free. You aren’t paid to study. However the loans offered, at least in Sweden, are at the lowest interest found. They even beat public sector interest rates. So you’d be hard pressed to find better terms.
Imagine having to pay 20-30k extra per year on top of that. Unless you are ambitious…
Still far far away from what education costs in USA from what I’ve heard.
More than 2 decades ago, that was just about the cost of community college (2 year associates degree).
Not perfect but that’s sooooo much better than throwing them in jail for cheap labor.
Came to say this. Most people in the UK have to pay tuition for university. There is a govt loan but you’re still paying it, plus interest
Should be interest free. No reason for anyone to profit off higher education, other than the actual educators. Admin can suck a dick.
The USA also has states that have free college, which is done with lottery funds.
Higher education is 16-18? That’s still included in our compulsory education in the US. Can children choose to drop out at 16 there?
How it works in the UK:
- School: 5 - 16 years old
- College or Sixth Form: 16-18 years old
- University: 18years+
College is actually akin to high-school in the UK, and is tuition free but university is not. The person who made this graphic probably googled ‘free college UK’ and didn’t understand the word means something different there
Not legally, but some of them do. You need to be in some form of education until you turn 18
It’s probably a vernacular thing then. In the US, 16-18 is “secondary education” and college is considered “higher education”
In the UK, secondary education is 11-16, further education is 16-18 and higher education is after that.
When I was in secondary education you could leave at 16.
But to confuse things even more, colleges are places to go from 16, not to be confused with sixth-forms which do much the same thing, but are attached to secondary education schools.
Yeah probably better to say we have a state run loans system, with fair repayment terms, that any resident is entitled to. So better than some countries but still not free.
Countries with labour laws and free education: “Learn and work, work and learn!”
Australia could have been included here, the only missing one is free ‘college’ which is known as University here.
The UK has both colleges and universities. Colleges are usually seen as “lesser”, usually with vocational style courses rather than purely academic learning.
In England, college is free but university is not. In Scotland it’s all free up to a certain age. I’m not sure about Wales and Northern Ireland.
Colleges ARE lesser, are they not? They provide a lower level of qualification and are usually attended at a younger age. I’ve been out of education for a while so happy to be corrected.
I find it hard to get the right word. I didn’t really like lesser because there’s a big implication in the UK that you’re a failure if you didn’t go to university and I think that’s total bullshit.
Although you obviously can’t get a doctorate or a masters at a college there’s loads of worth while courses that can arguably translate much easier to workplace positions.
There’s no point in getting a doctorate in english literature and then having to go work in Starbucks because there’s no jobs available in your field. Whereas you could study something like a national certificate in electrical engineering and have your pick of jobs/apprenticeships at the end of the course.
Yeah I get that. It’s kinda funny that they’re considered a lower tier because my A Levels were more stressful than ANYTHING in my bachelor’s or master’s, by far (and they’re both in what’s considered to be challenging subjects). The actual content of my Law A Level has been the most professionally and personally useful out of any other professional or academic qualification, and condensed into less time.
So I take your point entirely.
In a lot of Europe, you graduate from high school, and you go either to college or university at the same age. Either or.
There are other differences as well, for example to get a PhD you have to get a masters first, but then PhDs are almost all paid. Usually not well paid, but paid nonetheless.
In the UK, college is for 16-19 year olds and university is for 18+.
Fair enough, in Australia we generally call those lesser institutions ‘TAFE’.
Though as a peculiarity the Australian Capital Territory calls year 11 and 12 education college, in a break from the rest of the country.
We need to stop calling it “free” college. It’s not free. It’s a worthwhile investment we all pay for and reap the benefits of.
We don’t call it a “free military.”
College is free, uni isn’t
Not our fault just one country uses the word incorrectly
Uni is free if you live in a sane part of the UK
Scotland: the only part of the UK that consistently votes left of centre.
You’re missing the point. They’re saying it’s not free, it’s funded by the government/tax dollars.
Also languages develop regionally and sometimes use different words. It’s so 2010 to assert regional differences are “wrong.” Gag me with a spoon.
I don’t understand why that matters ultimately? The point is “free” is not a good word for it, whether it’s college or university. It’s not “free” and we don’t call anything else we pay for with taxes “free.” All it does is create an easy attack vector for detractors and misrepresent it.
I think free is a great word for something you can rock up to and collect without paying, and you don’t have to remortgage your house because your parent got cancer.
You do pay for it. You don’t get free roads. You don’t get free hospitals. You don’t get a free military. They are funded by tax dollars, that’s the entire point. Yet we say “free college.”
Yes I do get free hospitals. I live in the UK. Hospital visits are free and I don’t pay for them. I pay for parking if I park on site, but I absolutely do not pay for the healthcare. The healthcare is free. My daughter gets it free, I get it free, unemployed people get it free, billionaires get out free, everyone gets it free, no one is charged for it. The government pays the whole bill. Unlimited healthcare based on need, no cost.
It’s earning a salary that isn’t free. That costs me 20% above a certain threshold. But, no, the hospitals are completely free.
They’re not free. You pay taxes to fund them. Your countrymen pay taxes to fund them. You are all paying for it collectively all the time, which is a great thing to do and is a worthwhile investment. It is a sane and sustainable way of running healthcare. But it is not free.
You say the government pays for it: where do you think the government gets its money? For the UK it’s not entirely from exploiting former colonial vassals anymore, y’all pay taxes. Same as the rest of us.
You’re twisting words to mean what you want them to mean. The healthcare is free but earning a salary is not. It’s very simple. You don’t pay for the healthcare, ever, no matter how often on expensive it is, but earning a salary is not free, and you get charged every time according to how much you get. The healthcare is free for everyone. Free. No charge. Unlimited. Free.
I feel like it depends on your translation and how you define “free”.
I like to compare it to the differences between expenses and costs. Which is something people often confuse. Expenses are talking about the outflow of money and costs are talking about the effect of it on the bottom line.
“Free” education is free, because it’s not an expense it can be considered and indirect cost. It might never be something that is paid if you never pay taxes for whatever reason.
People also consider their social security income free because they don’t need to do more for it than filling in a form often online
It also isn’t free for people here, it’s paid. They pay you (not a very large amount but still) to go to any education above the mandatory education.
Yes that’s what I’m saying.
Define "worthwhile investment "
the health of your people is absolutely a worthwhile investment by all definitions. It’s the right thing to do/ethical, it makes them happy/support their government if you’re thinking politically, and a healthy populace does more for society/the country/economy/whatever you care about.
What’s with the bait nonsense say what you want to say.
There is an obsessed with going to university - yes education is excellent but to end up in so much debt at such a young age is awful.
Especially the stoopid requirement for so many “entry” level corporate roles that demand a degree, despite the role never using any skills from that degree. Recruitment seems to think having a degree automatically means a person with a degree will be the best hire.
And trades - they are overshadowed because having a degree seems to be a better route career wise.
I am not obsessed with going to university. I think everybody should have access to university. That does not mean everybody should go.
We have somewhat started to fund trade schools and community colleges and such here in the US so the assumption would be that if we had a universal education of some kind it would include community colleges and trade school and conservatories.
Agreed that there must be greater access to education. Its just sucks for the less well off to be saddled with so much debt to do so.
An educated electorate.
Having a bunch of uneducated dumbasses fucks up your country.
I think I understand your concern, but how do you very briefly describe what’s happening a better way?
Schools in the US are “free”, although they are generally funded by taxes. I think if you said to most people that society benefits from a good basic education for everyone, they would agree.
If you said that should apply to higher education, it doesn’t sound like too much of a stretch.
If you then said “we should have the same standard of education and funding for the entire nation”, many people would say “No way”, because America, and that would mean centralized funding and standards and stuff. It’s always that last part.
National education. Funded degrees. Paid-for education. Universal education. Lots of options.
We don’t call it free healthcare do we?
yes we do
We do in the UK. Because it’s free.
It’s called the National Health System and it’s paid for with taxes, yes?
Earning a salary isn’t free. You get charged all the time for that.
Going to hospital is free. You get unlimited visits and any procedure you need at zero cost to you, taxpayer or not, no charge. Free.
I am not having the exact same conversation in 2 places.
It looks to me like you are, because you said the same nonsense lots of places, but that’s up to you, I guess.
But renaming mountains and bodies of water are going to solve all of that, our orange god king told us so.
/s if it’s not obvious
