Inspired by the one of the side topics of the thread on what conservatives have to fear. To start of with the obvious objection, when I say free, I mean free of tuition to the students. Of course someone is going to pay, just like the taxpayers pay for K-12 eduction. But I see no need to have the burden fall primarily on the students.
Objection 1. It’s more expensive than K-12. Yes, but it shouldn’t have to be that much more expensive. The professors don’t make that much more than public school K-12 teachers. Yes, there is more facilities that K-12 schools don’t have, such as a large library, labs, athletic facilities, etc. But I doubt that this adds so much to the cost that it can no longer be publicly sustainable.
Objection 2. Not everyone goes to college. True. So let’s cover other secondary forms of education as well, such as trade school, apprenticeships, etc.
Objection 3. What about private schools? Let them remain private. Students can attend on scholarship or pay themselves if they want to. If they are that much better than public schools, surely they’ll be able to compete. I say this as someone who attended a private university.
What say you all? What other objections am I overlooking? Why would this plan be doomed to failure?