Is what I'm doing wrong?

[navcom]

Originally Posted by BryanC

If these institutions chose to educate for free or if certain teachers/professors chose to teach for free, would you oppose that?

Nope! Not at all. Volunteerism is a great thing! There are those who volunteer their time to teach for free. I volunteer to teach and help train new pilots when the need arises. In these cases my time is free to the student. But flying the airplane is not free nor are the books and supplies needed to do the training...so most of the time the student is being fronted by another entity who is donating their/it's money so he/she can. Likewise, a teaching institution cannot just exist for free. There is more to it than just finding teachers who will volunteer to teach. There is the building, the supplies, or the web site, etc. Someone is paying for it somewhere.

I obviously cannot support my family doing this full time. Neither can professors or teachers. Our time is worth something as it's a limited resource...whether you choose to donate that time for someone else's benefit or use it to earn money for your family.

The point? Information transfer is not usually free. It may seem or be free to some, but someone, somewhere, somehow, is paying for it....either through donations from individuals, groups, foundations, businesses, or advertising revenue....or through tax dollars which we are all ultimately paying for.

[BryanC]

Originally Posted by navcom

Nope! Not at all. Volunteerism is a great thing! There are those who volunteer their time to teach for free. I volunteer to teach and help train new pilots when the need arises. In these cases my time is free to the student. But flying the airplane is not free nor are the books and supplies needed to do the training...so most of the time the student is being fronted by another entity who is donating their/it's money so he/she can. Likewise, a teaching institution cannot just exist for free. There is more to it than just finding teachers who will volunteer to teach. There is the building, the supplies, or the web site, etc. Someone is paying for it somewhere.

I obviously cannot support my family doing this full time. Neither can professors or teachers. Our time is worth something as it's a limited resource...whether you choose to donate that time for someone else's benefit or use it to earn money for your family.

The point? Information transfer is not usually free. It may seem or be free to some, but someone, somewhere, somehow, is paying for it....either through donations from individuals, groups, foundations, businesses, or advertising revenue....or through tax dollars which we are all ultimately paying for.

I'm agreeing with what you are saying above. I guess the point of my question was more about my stating my opinion regarding the original post/question. It was a choice made that didn't cost a third party anything.