Talk:C.W.W. Kannangara

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A fact from C.W.W. Kannangara appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 12 October 2007.
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[edit] Free?

In 1943 Kannangara also launched an annual scholarship program, which provided the opportunity for the 20 best performers of the scholarship exam to get free board and lodging in Central School hostels.

If the education system is free from start to finish, why are students paying for board and lodging? what about those who cannot afford it? Toby Douglass 15:13, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

First, I reverted your edits, as they mostly your personal opinions, and are in violation of WP:OR guidelines. Feel free to add whatever you want back, as long as you have reliable citations for the text.--snowolfD4 ( talk / @ ) 16:03, 12 October 2007
Yes. I generally find whenever I write about "free" public services not in fact being free and actually have downsides, reverts occur, with "no citation" as the reason given. In fact, the original material, by not stating these issues, is just as biased as the material being reverted; furthermore, in almost all articles, significant quantities of uncited materal exists which is not similarly reverted. Finally, the issues I raise are in no way *WHATSOEVER* my personal opinion. They are bald fact. If education is made free, it must be paid for, there is a given amount of State revenue, other servies are therefore not provided or reduced. This is NOT contestable. I have concluded people don't like "free" services being critiqued. Toby Douglass 16:14, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
Of course there is tons of content on Wikipedia that isn't cited, but usually, if it's not disputed, there is no need to remove it. Disputed content needs to be verified as accurate for it to be kept.
That's a sensible view and one I'd agree with. The problem I find with economics, much more than other fields, is that non-economists often dispute matters which economists regard as undisputable. Economics is counter-intuitive.
The "material been reverted to" is all cited from reliable publications. Like below, if you have any questions about it, please bring it up on the talk page and they can be cleared up.
Wikipedia isn't the place to get into such discussions, but since you brought it up... Would you rather save money and build roads and have illiterate people wandering around, or spend it on making the entire population literate? What would provide the longer term benefits? (And just fyi, I personally didn't go to a free school. Private school still costs money :) --snowolfD4 ( talk / @ ) 17:09, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
I'd rather than State *didn't* raise that money and *didn't* spend it, and so left the people themselves who earned that money to to keep it and decide for themselves what to spend it on - like paying for their children to be educated. Those people will know far better than the State what they need. Toby Douglass 17:16, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
As to the central schools question, children are expected to go to the closest school to their homes. They provide free education to all students. The brightest students, who do well in the exam, are given the opportunity to attend the prestigious "central schools", and are given free board and lodging. The scholarship exam system is still in existence today.[1] --snowolfD4 ( talk / @ ) 16:03, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
That doesn't seem to answer my question; if education is free, why are students paying? and since they are, what happens to students who cannot afford those fees? it's no good saying education is free and then charging people for ancillary services, for those who cannot afford it will be denied that education. Toby Douglass 16:14, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
Like I said, students go to schools close to their homes and do not need to pay for board or lodging (there is at least one school in every town). If they want to go to central schools away from home, then they have to pay for related expenses. The scholarship winners get awards to cover those expenses, and they are therefore able to go to the more "prestigious" schools.
Hope that answers your question. --snowolfD4 ( talk / @ ) 16:58, 12 October 2007 (UTC)