• I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    Would you look at that, Brazil has all of those! The problem with UHC is that right wing politicians have been doing everything in their power to dismantle it ever since its inception.

    The previous govt (fucking bozo) was also keen on “isn’t it better to have some work and no rights, rather than having rights and no work?”

    Public universities, while being free, often can only be attended by the well off, since class times might be all over the week (Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning AND night), fucking anyone that needs to work to sustain themselves.

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
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    Free college is no longer a thing here in the UK. But our student loan terms are bloody generous.

  • Camelbeard@lemmy.world
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    The world isn’t this black and white, so you can’t just compare things at a basic level like this

    For example the Netherlands has intuition fee’s for universities. It’s about 2500 euro per student per year. I’d much rather have it free, but it’s still nothing compared to the 50K or 100K some people pay for an American University

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      And the UK for that matter. You only get free education up to A Levels (18 years old).

      If you want a degree then you pay for it.

      • GelatinGeorge@lemmy.world
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        Hey, leave Scotland out of this. We get tuition fees paid plus a student loan which you can just sort of never pay back 👌

    • howrar@lemmy.ca
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      Similar in Canada. It may not be free, but it’s ridiculously cheap compared to what the US deals with and we still have great financial assistance for those who can’t afford that.

    • groet@infosec.pub
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      Exactly. Germany also has free Universities but there are mandatory charges you have to pay in order to study. Its just not a university fee but a fee for a mandatory university service (still mutch lower than other countries with university fees).

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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    Luckily there’s still many other important things such as food safety, workplace safety, consumer protection… um…

    • meliaesc@lemmy.world
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      Add disaster management and informing people about disease outbreaks ans product recalls! America is so great about… um.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    Indeed, but nothing is for free and we pay for the so-called “free” services through taxes. Yes, the 1st Class EU members are way ahead of the piss poor US labor laws and public services. Thanks to the MAGAts, working conditions will become 3rd World.

    One matter, the blue-collar apprenticeship system in Germany is outstanding and the only organization that comes close are the trade unions in the USA, but it depends on which local you are in. Some are superb and some are WTF.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      Yes healthcare is paid for via taxes so it isn’t strictly speaking isn’t free, but it also isn’t the same as paying for health insurance. For one thing you don’t pay more money just because you’ve got a Pre-Existing medical condition. In a way everyone pays less because all of the people that would otherwise pay for private healthcare, still pay the taxes, so everyone else is being subsidized by the rich, who in the US wouldn’t contribute to anyone else’s healthcare.

      I don’t think anyone ends up paying more in taxes than they would if we operated under the US private health care system.

      So while your point is strictly speaking true, it’s also a bit pedantic.

      • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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        No disrespect to the guy individually but “it’s not free, it’s paid for by taxes” is mentioned every single time when this conversation comes up.

        Everybody knows. Nobody actually thinks these these things appear out of thin air. We all know how taxes pay for public services and employment rights.

    • inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      I love the way Germany has trade unions that are trade wide rather than smaller unions. I wish we could import that to America.

  • Hellsfire29@lemmy.world
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    I get free healthcare, Free College, paid time off, paid sick leave, paid paternity leave… Lives in USA. But I’m employed, so I get those things.

      • Hellsfire29@lemmy.world
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        But the catch is that I was in the army. And did a tour in Afghanistan. 100% disabled as well.

        If I served my country and got all 5 of those things, why can’t the USA make it universal?

        No profit in that.

              • Hellsfire29@lemmy.world
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                I don’t like our president any more than his predecessor. Nor the replacement. Our government failed us.

                I served under Bush Jr, and then he extended our tour. So I’ve been mad at him ever since, along with his other decisions.

                Did I come out leftist? I went in right leaning and came out more centrist.

                To be honest.

                Glad your friend came back alive. Afghanistan sucked.

            • inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              It’s the truth. If you want “free” anything as an American you have to serve the imperial interests of the capitalists who own the US government and philander the rest of the world.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    We used to have free college, but college students protested things which pissed off Reagan so he campaigned against it

  • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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    Well, there’s one country I’m not moving to. It amuzes me that a first world country, hell, a global superpower, doesn’t have any of that stuff, it would benefit everyone, especially free healthcare because you wouldn’t have to worry about going bankrupt just to get that surgery you know you need. It doesn’t even have to be free, just making it affordable for everyone is already a huge step.

    • viking@infosec.pub
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      America isn’t a first world country. It favors the rich in the same way as most African and Central Asian nations.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        The first/second/third world designation is a cold war relic. America is first world by definition, but we probably should have ditched the whole framework after the Berlin Wall fell.

        • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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          I agree that it should no longer be used in a modern context. It’s like calling Russia the USSR; people usually know what you mean, but it doesn’t make sense, and when talking about specifically American geopolitics, it’s easy to misunderstand what is meant if you are older than 35.

      • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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        Yet it still considers itself a global superpower with the biggest economy in the world (or one of the biggest, I can’t even remember). To me, it’s just laughable that they made it to this point.

    • pool_spray_098@lemmy.world
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      FYI, many Americans do have many of these things, they just aren’t mandated or evenly distributed to all citizens.

      It’s still fucked, though.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      It amuzes me that a first world country, hell, a global superpower, doesn’t have any of that stuff

      They imported workers from countries that have free education.

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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    Well, at least for white working families. Middle easterners are under constant attack in those countries.

      • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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        Probably because several of these things are legal rights throughout the US for many people. In California you get 24 hours paid sick leave minimum per year. Usually more based on hours worked.

        PTO or vacation is pretty ubiquitous. I had 4 weeks of PTO a year working at a non-union grocery store. It’s not a legal requirement though, so it fair critique.

        The first 2 years of college is free in some states and heavily subsidized through grants/financial aid depending on your income. It’s not free, but it’s not completely free in most of the EU either.

        US Healthcare is an obvious travesty. It’s more annoying that Medicare you gain access to in retirement is actually pretty good, so we could be better but just choose not to.

        Also, I got 4 weeks paid family leave from the government and from my job with the birth of my child. It’s not alot but its not nothing.

        There are lots of things wrong in the US but the graph doesn’t give a single measurement, it’s basically checkboxes that aren’t accurate for most Americans, as our largest population centers tend to have socialist protections/benefits codified. It’s fairly accurate on a federal level though.

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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          But that’s the same for most of Europe, some places get much more protections.

          Like in the NL, you get 104 weeks of contiguous paid sick leave, and your employer can’t even know what you’re sick with, and there are no doctors’ notes, you just tell them you’re sick.

  • Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world
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    It’s not strictly true collage or university as it’s know in the rest of the world, in the UK it’s only Scotland that gets free tuition, not the rest of us, higher education which is 16-18 is free

    • Zloubida@lemmy.world
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      In France, college is free only if you’re from a underpriviledged social class, and only for a limited time.

      • Synapse@lemmy.world
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        I didn’t qualify as “boursier”, my tuition was around 400€/year through out bachlore and master degrees (école d’ingénieurs). It’s not so expensive. I still was able to claim 90€/month of help for housing (CAF). My friends who qualified paid 0€ for tuition, and they also got more for housing but I don’t remember how much. This was from 2011~2016.

        In south Germany today, a foreigner, who can’t claim any financial help, has to pay 3000~4000€/semester 1500€/semester.

        Still far far away from what education costs in USA from what I’ve heard.

        Edit: Corrected the price of tuition in Germany.

        • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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          I’m a foreigner without access to financial aid paying ~€400/semester in middle Germany for a master’s degree (bachelor’s is €100/semester less). Granted, I’m now married to a German, but I wasn’t when I started the program and the cost didn’t change when I got married.

          I would honestly shop around a little if I were you, other universities should be much cheaper. Unless you’re including rent, I guess.

          • Synapse@lemmy.world
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            After asking more precise information to the concerned person: Stuttgart university, non-EU foreigner has to pay 1500€/semester. If married to EU citizen, it becomes 190€/semester.

            • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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              That’s insanely expensive and they should probably transfer (edit: I don’t know them or their situation, maybe they’re happy with it, but they could certainly save money elsewhere). Lots of businesses target wealthy and/or desperate foreigners, and that sounds like there’s something funky going on. I didn’t even meet my husband until I was partway through my studies and I’m not an eu citizen, so it’s not because of that.

              I’ve learned that if something is too geared towards foreign students, I’m probably getting taken advantage of somehow, because it’s really disturbingly common. I’m lucky, in that I don’t stick out much (tall, pale, and with a super German sounding name) and I’ve got C2 German and a background in contracts, and I’m still frequently seen as an easy mark by landlords, cell phone services, banks (?!), and other businesses with variable and opaque pricing.

            • BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml
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              Some have different tuition for if you’re in state or from out of state, so around 10K usually for in state and around 20K for out of state, but some are 30K to 60K for the fancier universities in my state.

                • BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml
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                  I’m pretty sure it’s per year, it’s been a while since I looked at tuitions but the in / out of state tuitions for my school (8k and 33k) match what they list on the schools website for a full academic year for in and out of state students.

                  That’s just tuition so it doesn’t include cost of the dorm (8k), meal plans (5 or 6k depending on the level), and books (estimated $700), among other fees and stuff.

        • Zloubida@lemmy.world
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          Foreigners from outside the EU pay between 3000€ and 4000€ by year (not semester) today in France, but licence, master and even PhD are cheaper than 400€ for European students. We are lucky, but still it’s not free.

          • Synapse@lemmy.world
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            It sure is not free. I am very fortunate it didn’t have to worry about money during my studies, as my parents were supporting me. But for my friend who was “boursier” and didn’t have to pay anything for the tuition, he still had to go in debt in order to have money for all the essentials (groceries, gas, etc). Studying engineering in France it not something you can do while having a part time job. We had around 35h of classes per week not including self study, practicing for exams and the almost mandatory parties :D

            • Tobberone@lemm.ee
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              Yeah, no, livving isn’t free. You aren’t paid to study. However the loans offered, at least in Sweden, are at the lowest interest found. They even beat public sector interest rates. So you’d be hard pressed to find better terms.

              Imagine having to pay 20-30k extra per year on top of that. Unless you are ambitious…

        • curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Still far far away from what education costs in USA from what I’ve heard.

          More than 2 decades ago, that was just about the cost of community college (2 year associates degree).

    • brewery@lemmy.world
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      Came to say this. Most people in the UK have to pay tuition for university. There is a govt loan but you’re still paying it, plus interest

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        Should be interest free. No reason for anyone to profit off higher education, other than the actual educators. Admin can suck a dick.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      Higher education is 16-18? That’s still included in our compulsory education in the US. Can children choose to drop out at 16 there?

      • moon@lemmy.ml
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        How it works in the UK:

        • School: 5 - 16 years old
        • College or Sixth Form: 16-18 years old
        • University: 18years+

        College is actually akin to high-school in the UK, and is tuition free but university is not. The person who made this graphic probably googled ‘free college UK’ and didn’t understand the word means something different there

      • sunglocto@lemmy.zip
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        Not legally, but some of them do. You need to be in some form of education until you turn 18

        • ramble81@lemm.ee
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          It’s probably a vernacular thing then. In the US, 16-18 is “secondary education” and college is considered “higher education”

          • nogooduser@lemmy.world
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            In the UK, secondary education is 11-16, further education is 16-18 and higher education is after that.

            When I was in secondary education you could leave at 16.

            • theo@lemmy.world
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              But to confuse things even more, colleges are places to go from 16, not to be confused with sixth-forms which do much the same thing, but are attached to secondary education schools.

    • wiccan2@lemmy.world
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      Yeah probably better to say we have a state run loans system, with fair repayment terms, that any resident is entitled to. So better than some countries but still not free.

  • uis@lemm.ee
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    Countries with labour laws and free education: “Learn and work, work and learn!”

  • Cypher@lemmy.world
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    Australia could have been included here, the only missing one is free ‘college’ which is known as University here.

    • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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      The UK has both colleges and universities. Colleges are usually seen as “lesser”, usually with vocational style courses rather than purely academic learning.

      In England, college is free but university is not. In Scotland it’s all free up to a certain age. I’m not sure about Wales and Northern Ireland.

      • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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        Colleges ARE lesser, are they not? They provide a lower level of qualification and are usually attended at a younger age. I’ve been out of education for a while so happy to be corrected.

        • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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          I find it hard to get the right word. I didn’t really like lesser because there’s a big implication in the UK that you’re a failure if you didn’t go to university and I think that’s total bullshit.

          Although you obviously can’t get a doctorate or a masters at a college there’s loads of worth while courses that can arguably translate much easier to workplace positions.

          There’s no point in getting a doctorate in english literature and then having to go work in Starbucks because there’s no jobs available in your field. Whereas you could study something like a national certificate in electrical engineering and have your pick of jobs/apprenticeships at the end of the course.

          • tlou3please@lemmy.world
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            Yeah I get that. It’s kinda funny that they’re considered a lower tier because my A Levels were more stressful than ANYTHING in my bachelor’s or master’s, by far (and they’re both in what’s considered to be challenging subjects). The actual content of my Law A Level has been the most professionally and personally useful out of any other professional or academic qualification, and condensed into less time.

            So I take your point entirely.

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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          In a lot of Europe, you graduate from high school, and you go either to college or university at the same age. Either or.

          There are other differences as well, for example to get a PhD you have to get a masters first, but then PhDs are almost all paid. Usually not well paid, but paid nonetheless.

      • Cypher@lemmy.world
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        Fair enough, in Australia we generally call those lesser institutions ‘TAFE’.

        Though as a peculiarity the Australian Capital Territory calls year 11 and 12 education college, in a break from the rest of the country.