On Wednesday, students all around the country walked out of their lessons protest at the rise in university tuition fees, the cutting of EMA and general cuts to education. I think these new policies are appalling. Yes, we are in a huge amount of debt and the government need to make serious cuts. But I think that they're cutting the wrong things. Why not cut the bankers' bonuses or reduce the enormous amount of money being spent on renewing Trident rather than the next generation's vital education? The government have no idea what they are doing. They help the rich and leave the poor and in this particular instance, they are leaving middle class people too. £9000 a year is not on. How do they expect us to make a life for ourselves with £27000 (for a 3 year course) debt to pay off.
People keeps saying, 'Do you have to go to Uni?' or 'Higher education is a privilege, not a right.' I understand that far too many people have been encouraged to go to university who aren't suited to it, just for the sake of getting a degree or because it now seems to be the 'done' thing. A huge number of people would be better suited to something more specialised like a vocational course. But this does not mean that all the people who can't afford to go to uni should have to do a vocational course or apprenticeship. Not just rich people are intelligent enough to get into university - people in all situations are capable of getting in and whether you go or not should depend on whether it is right for you and not your position in the British class system. This country needs educated people who have been to uni in order for this country to run. Education benefits everyone, not just the individual. A generation of well educated people will help the economy even more in the long run. We as a country have so much to gain from having the right balance of people who have a good general academic background and people who have specialised in a certain area. The two work hand in hand and we as a country should support both equally.
Addendum: This is part one of a couple of blogs I am going to write on the subject of education. The next one is about the actual student protests. I have half written it but it didn't sound right so I'm going to edit it and post it tomorrow. I might also extend this blog to include an exemplum ('exemplum, exemplum, an example from one's own life, etc, etc' - only Watsonians and Radio 4 listeners will understand this) involving myself and my good friend Emma. The relevance of this will become apparent tomorrow or whenever I post it. This has been rather a long addendum. I'm going to bed now. N'night x
EDIT: As you may have guessed, I never got round to the second blog and now I'm not in the right frame of mind to attempt it and my draft was pretty rubbish anyway. Actually this blog was a bit rubbish and angry and ranty too but it's less rubbish than the one I didn't post. So I'm not going to post it. Sorry everyone. And sorry Emma who was looking forward to being in a blog. She will be in one one day. Bye bye x
