Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You! Part 1

A former friend of mine (I say former because he now does not consider me as his because of an opinion I gave that apparently was contradictory to how he felt! Well, I say tough!!) brought forth a discussion as to why students need to repay their PTPTN loans, which I felt was nothing to be discussed in the first place.

He conceded that the money given, even though in the form of a loan, should be given freely without any obligations to the students.  When countered with the argument that if he does not wish to pay his loan, then he should strive to achieve a first class honours in is degree, he retorted that if everyone were to get first class honours, then there would be no one who would work as sweepers, cleaners or garbage collectors; a reply which I thought was pure rubbish; no pun intended!

He went on to add that students should not be forced into paying their loans because after they have completed their studies they would need a lot of money to make ends meet.  Hello!  Doesn't everybody?   I replied that the loan was offered to almost every one who succeeded in continuing their tertiary education, and that the prospective borrower was in no way obligated let alone forced to accept the loan.  There is of course, a legal and binding agreement between PTPTN and the borrower, once the loan is accepted.

I guess my former friend should consider the fact that the idea of borrowing something is, you should return it to the lender, a concept which I think  should be easy enough for a future teacher like him to understand.  If not, he shouldn't have made the loan in the first place!  Or better still, he shouldn't have applied to become a teacher!