HIGHER EDUCATION IS A PRIVILEGE: NOT A RIGHT
Donnelly (2002) defines human rights as both natural and "inalienable," which is to say that these are rights that cannot be bestowed granted, limited, bartered, or sold. Human rights are said to be those rights necessary for freedom and for the maintenance of a reasonable quality of life. The essay presented here defends the claim that higher education is a privilege and not a right.
Several reasons can be offered in defense of the claim that higher education is a privilege and not a right. First, receiving a higher education does not fit the definition of what constitutes 'human rights' that was just presented. Many people live free and very satisfying lives without ever attending an institution of higher learning such as a college or university. Indeed, some of the greatest contributors to society have been men and women who received no post-secondary education. For example, Brinkley (2002) reports that some of the wealthiest and most successful people (e.g., entrepreneurs, generals, etc.) in America were those who had no college education. Thus, the idea that post-secondary education is needed to maintain a reasonable quality of life is not a notion that can be justified which makes it likely that higher education is not a right.
Nor is it true that education, as a 'social entity' cannot be granted, limited, bartered, or sold. The history of education in American is filled with cases where higher education has been limited, bartered, granted, and/or sold (Newman, Couturier & Scurry, 2004). Indeed, many colleges outright acknowledge that higher education is not a right and let their students know this up-front. For example, Northern Illinois University (2005) uses its website to inform students in bold type that:
Graduate education is a privilege accorded to those students deemed able to profit from the associated intellectual experiences. When a student's behavior withi...