NationStates Jolt Archive

RECOGNISING that the right to an education is monumental to reducing and eventually eradicating poverty

ACKNOWLEDGING that every young person has the right to a barrier-free education

It is hereby proposed that in every WA nation, education be funded for all young people.

Education should begin as early as possible, with each nation implementing an early childhood education programme, paving the way for each child to enter kindergarten prepared for what awaits them.

Primary and secondary educations would be funded by the state. These would occur in state-operated schools, with private academies being an option for those who don't wish to send their child(ren) to a public school.

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If you agree with this, I would appreciate your endorsement of this resolution. It will and is posted under the title of "Universal Education Act". This is a rewrite of an earlier pro-education resolution I put on the table while the forums were down.

Seeing that I am a big fan of education, I really like this proposal. Seeing that every politician needed a good education to get where they are. If all Nations don't allow their citizens to get an education, then how are we going to have informed WA members?

My nation already has a perfectly good educational system, based on a combination of fee-charging establishments and charitably-funded ones (and fee-charging ones that use part of their income to grant free scholarships to pupils from poor backgrounds), and doesn't need a tax-funded one...
Why try to force all nations into a single pattern?


Alfred Devereux Sweynsson MD,
Chief Observer at the World Assembly
for the government of
The Kingdom of St Edmund.

some WA nations prefer their citizens uneducated. others, prefer to use education as indoctrination.

at what point in your proposal do you distinguish between education and brainwashing? not mind you, that naitonstates using their state schools as propaganda factories need a reason--or another reason rather--to legitimatise via WA resolution their provisioning of "universal education".

yet again, a well-meaning, but micro-managing proposal that leads to so many pitfalls, loopholes, and eventually, over-reaching of the scope and balliwick of this body, it would be as though soveriegn rights are non-existant.

the path to hell is always lined with good intentions...

Education is highly valued in the Commonwealth of Stimpsk. And, as such, I would heartily welcome any proposal that would contribute to the improvement of education.

However, the biggest issue I see with this proposal, is the definition, or lack thereof, of "young people". More authoritarian nations could skirt away from the requirements of this proposal by defining "young people" in their nation as persons below the age of 6 (which is something I feel would defeat the purpose of this proposal in its entirety).

Mikhael Chormbcyzk
Ambassador to the World Assembly
Commonwealth of Stimpsk

The Government of the Yuuzhan Vong people welcomes this resolution. We support heavy education, especially to our future politicians and WA representatives. We will put our full support behind this.

High Priest Jakan

Some sceptics may care to note I didn't specify the type of education. Just that no young person should be deprived of a chance to learn and better themselves. This wouldn't restrict the type of education that could be offered, such as if your nation prefers vocation and apprenticeship style education, this would be in support.

The nomadic people of Purnelia find it hard to educate as all people move round. It is also for the best they stay uneducated as the regime relies on the uneducated masses slaving under giant corporations and the board of fortune.

From the desk of the board of fortune

i support you, no one should be denied of an education.

I don't approve of bills that without exception mandate that a state provide a service. First of all, this fails to take into account impoverished states that simply cannot afford to completely fund public education for all. Imagine for example, a war-torn nation in Africa that must choose between avoiding a civil war or losing its WA membership because it can't bring education to all the tiny villages in its jungles. While we're at it, let's mandate universal employment funded by the state. Full employment is a worthy goal, too, and just about as realistic an initiative for the world's poorest countries.

It should be noted that even in the United States where education is compulsory, even public schools are not completely state funded. I believe they only receive about 10% of their funding from the federal government, a larger percentage from state governments, and they are operated by local school boards not the state.

If the state runs all the schools, that sets up great opportunity to indoctrinate children. Think along the lines of "The Hitler Youth" organizations. Or the Great Leap Forward in China in which children were urged to denounce their parents if they were wealthy or intellectual.

The states get their funding ultimately from the federal government. However, you do bring up a good point; schools in the US are operated by local boards, not the federal government itself. I think that you put up a good argument.

While I generally approve of pro-education measures, this one's a wee bit inflexible, particularly in defining how school systems work. There are a few things I'd like to see changed.

It would be good to make it the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is a sufficient amount of schooling of sufficient quality available for all children in a locality. Note the wording: I didn't say school places (since people may prefer and be experienced enough to go for home schooling), and I didn't say what sort of schools or who they should be run by, just that they should be good enough. You might want to expand on what "good enough" means, but I'm too lazy.

The other way round from insisting that the government supplies funding would be to make it the responsibility of the government to ensure that money isn't a barrier to being educated. That way governments like St Ed who rely on charities can carry on, as long as they cover the shortfall if there is one.

The Villehaus has ratifed its own legislation towards such ends, with excellent results. Naturally we understand our situation, with a highly concentrated population within a city-state, make such systems far easier to implement and with our long, glorious history of democratic government, the possibility of bias or ideological indoctrination anathema to both the ruling coalition and the opposition alike.

As such we propose amendments to the proposal, including a WA fund to aid poorer nations in the implementation of such public education systems. Such a fund will be paid by members based on their ability to, or in the case of nations like the honourable Kingdom of St. Edmunds, if they wish to at all.

Some may view a permissive fund like this as flawed however the Foreign Minister and Grand Council as a whole believe the Assembly here to be made up of charitable, caring member states - in general. The Republic of Vedorville for one shall whole heartedly support it, to enable the poorest peoples of the world a chance to learn, something we view as an inaliable human right.

Those here who see education as the sole responsibility of private business and charity sadden me. Charity is a way of clothing the naked, feeding the starving, curing the sick, all events that should not be common in a just world. Education however is a tenent of human existance, not some emergency that can be solved with a bowl of soup or vaccine. The Private Sector meanwhile is, and rightably should be, dedicated soely to profit, hardly a system that will see all recieve equal, quality education. Government first responsiblity is to represent and protect its people, not just from enemy states or criminals, but ignorance as well.

However if such systems can provide basic tenants such as literacy, they should be allowed to operate. We as such also propose to redefine the meaning of an education system away from an orthodox public one, including private, religious etc. This Assembly should support basic education but not at the expense of national soveriegnty in the way these systems are constructed

We hope that our fellow Assembly members will concur, and support our amendments to aid the poorest in recieving an education. Thank you.

Hermann Vanderbilk,
Vedorvillian Ambassabor to the World Assembly

The Empire Of Safally agrees that education is the best way to build a better world. As such the Imperial Council and the Emperor, along with the people of Safally fully support this bill. We hope that this bill can be the ground work for larger and more influential education education acts in the future.

Kyle Kalinch
Imperial Diplomat to the World Assembly,
The Empire of Safally