University education: a human right? - Test 4

C1 Advanced · Cross Text Multiple Matching · Cambridge English Advanced 4, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read four extracts in which academics give their views on the importance of university education. For questions 37–40, choose from the contributions A–D. The contributions may be chosen more than once.

It is a fundamental right of individuals to experience university and to have access to the knowledge it affords. University offers a huge opportunity – it is a treasure trove of knowledge to be gained and experiences to be had, and it provides an opportunity that exists at no other time in an individual's life. It is a time of personal and intellectual exploration. In secondary school, or, indeed, in professional life, no such opportunities exist, as these environments are about instruction and following orders, not about questioning norms and conventions in the same way university so often is. It serves as an extremely valuable forum for different views, which everyone has a right to experience should they so wish. Let's face it – a university-educated populace is of great value to any state and its benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. I think that such a privilege hardly needs to come at a price either.

A highly-educated society does not necessarily provide the great economic bounties that supporters of free university education suggest. Countries need educated people, including a certain number of university graduates, but the idea that everyone having a degree would benefit society is unfounded. Self-knowledge and genuine wisdom come from study and reflection. This can be done in the 'university of life', and not just in an academic institution. Many countries provide free primary and secondary education, and this is considered necessary by both liberals and conservatives alike around the world. I'm all for that too, but that's where the obligations end as far as I'm concerned. What I do feel strongly about, however, is equality of opportunity, and by that I mean the right of any citizen to have a university education, readily available to them regardless of their social background.

A life without the critical thinking tools provided by university is less full because those without them lack the facility by which to unlock all the doors of perception and knowledge laid before them. University serves also, in its giving of these opportunities, to shape individuals' views of themselves and society, helping to give form to the relationship between citizen and state on a deepened level. This development provides citizens with the ability to take meaningful part in the democratic process. A state can only be considered truly legitimate when an educated electorate approves it, and that's why all the tiers of formal education – primary, secondary and tertiary – are equally important in my view.

It is quite frankly ludicrous to expect that individuals should be automatically entitled to take three or four years, free of charge, to learn new skills that will benefit them, or learn how to be better citizens. The state's duty is of course to provide a baseline of care, which, in the case of education, secondary school more than provides. As I see it, individuals who want more should be fully prepared to fund it themselves. Having said that, one cannot or should not underestimate the value of universities when it comes to raising the level of awareness of the population in general. I would just like to add though, that it ought to be a case of true merit defining the ability to attend university, rather than the privileges that an accident of birth may offer. The advantages of attending university extend to life beyond student days and, as we know, without that qualification many paths are permanently denied.

Which academic holds a different view from the others on the importance of a university education for the population as a whole?

Which academic shares C's opinion on the value of critical thinking skills?

Which academic has a different opinion from C on the significance of the three levels of education?

Which academic expresses a contrasting view from D on paying university tuition fees?

University education: a human right?

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