In his July 19 letter, "Costly drag on education," Nagasaki University professor Dipak Basu's observation that Japan can "afford to follow the European countries and abolish tuition fees altogether in higher education" is a fine suggestion.
It reminded me of an article I wrote in 1978 in which I pointed out that "Education is significant to young and old. In a country where natural resources are scarce and the geography constricted, its people are the logical wealth. And education is the key to its development."
Students shouldn't be shunted due to their lack of money. A country and its people emerge as winners when financial hurdles are removed to make way for nurturing intelligence and intellect. Japan enjoys the second-strongest economy in the world, but for how much longer? Japan cannot afford not to encourage its young to enter universities.