I was giving the whole "pay for play" university thing a good once-over this morning, and I came up with the following short list of why paying for one's undergrad education (what the Brits call, ahem..."tertiary") in the Czech Republic is a fine thing indeed.

So without further ado...

1) More cash at a university's disposal to hire better, more inspirational instructors: Something I've often heard from various university-going types is their absolute disdain for the pinko-type instructors whom Czech institutions of higher learning seem to generally have as faculty. How they have difficulty identifying with the worldviews of the teachers who lecture them, what with their "socialist" pasts and falsely tenured positions, unfairly earned as they are. Theoretically, if you have more money in the kitty, you have more funds to employ more elaborate hiring strategies. You can even import lecturers from way abroad. Kind of like what the good people at the University of Northern Virginia in Prague are presently doing. Have a listen at how paid-for studies is improving the educational landscape right here in the capital.

2) Greater student appreciation for the education received, minus the usual backsliding: When a degree takes approximately five years to finish, there's bound to be gaps in the schedule when a student's concentration wanes. The need to suddenly pay for your own education results in the following two immediate spinoff benefits: a) since it's your money on the line, wasting it by slacking off is no longer an option. It'll cost you more dough if you decide to slouch, and b) students could conceivably demand those courses which appeal to their particular interests, since they're ultimately paying for it. Allow me to elaborate...courses today come in "vanilla"-type flavours. Students could instigate a tidal wave of change by demanding the delivery of "non-vanilla"-types like "Economic Stagnation on the African Continent," "Chinese New Investment Strategies in the Developing World," or "Basic WWW Skills for the Budding E-Entrepreneur." Moreover, they could demand university-level language instruction which wouldn't cost them a buchta at, say, Berlitz or at any of the hundreds of other language schools ripping students off around Prague. Top three tongues, in my opinion, should be English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. In that order.

3) Putting an end -- once and for all -- to the Entitlement Era: Shock doctrine? Or necessary evil? The persistent expectation that the Czech State owes its various citizens an education beyond the secondary level is an anachronism, in my view. I fully expect to hear this from the Older Generation, but out of the mouths of babes?! Uzasny! The Web is chock-a-block with self-teaching resources, where anyone with the will or the hunger can venture out on their own to find precisely what they need. If the State's done a successful job of equipping you with the needed cerebral wherewithal during grade school, you won't continue needing it to point you in the right direction by the time you hit university -- you'll be able to take matters into your own hands. This "nanny state" nonsense at the university level in the 21st-century is wholly unacceptable. The youth of this country needs to start bootstrapping and bucking up. Doing so will ensure the country's continued economic growth into the future, and avoid the mass production of Borg-like clones, middle-classing it all the way until adulthood. What I'm talking about is a good, clean, survival of the fittest entrepreneurial spirit inculcated during the impressionable university years. This might be the solution.

4) Freeing up State resources to keep vital skills instruction 100% free: What the government might want to consider still providing for free is intensive crash courses in various European business languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. Devote all paid-in student tuitions towards hiring younger teachers, improving facilities, and offering free Wi-Fi throughout campus. As for the balance? Have the State kickstart a Scandinavian-style foreign language assault to get younger Czechs speaking foreign languages, more often. At present, foreign language know-how in the CR is high, yet the desire to speak is low. This has much to do with the type of confidence instilled in the Czech home. When your parents and grandparents are constantly browbeating you to "keep your expectations reasonable," to "reign in those dreams, sunshine," and to not think nor speak in too grandiose of terms, it's got to have a psychological effect in your interactions with others. While this is maudlin or cute in private company, it's a surefire way to dampen economic growth in an increasingly globalized EU, not to mention world.

5) For-pay university education forces young Czechs, over time, to be more entrepreneurial: Presently, the thin air of entrepreneurial success is inhaled only by those with that all-critical access. Regrettably, the success path from A to B to C is an obscure one for the young Czech: if s/he doesn't initially hitch his cart to the right racehorse, the chance of resurrecting a career is next to impossible. However, the need to finally pay for one's own education will cause the Czech student to think in more innovative ways. It will force young Czechs to take the proverbial steer by the horns, or make do with much less; all key skills in the hack-and-slash globalized world of the 21st-century. It will force them to take more independent responsibility, instead of always seeking to be lead, oftentimes without their even knowing it. It will inculcate more needed "soft" skills, and yank us out of the endless quicksand of strictly technical education, which we're great at, but which the Chinese and Indians will eventually trounce us at.

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To be sure, there have been exciting efforts in this direction at institutions of higher learning like VSE in Prague. I've heard about the new "English-language" stream there, but when the lead instructors are in the majority former Commie-sympathizers or regime hangers-on, it's the equivalent of -- like my Dad used to say -- "throwing good money after bad."

I say bring on the for-pay system! Heck, you don't have to pay it back until you land a good job later. And if you think you're that good, then what do you have to worry about?

In closing, we don't have a 60% income tax regime like Sweden or Finland to continue affording free university education for our up-and-comers. It's time to look at this soberly, and without mudslinging.

The Prime Minister is definitely onto something here...