It seems to me that this country has lost its moral compass and is now adopting elitist strategies to keep the poor in their place with the rich getting away with it. The most shocking thing is that once again people are lapping it up like thirsty hyenas at a watering hole.
The government and media have done a good job of blaming the previous government for the ‘world banking crisis’ and have done even better to attribute the billions of pounds worth of bail outs away from the bankers and somehow onto the public sector workers, as if nurses, teachers and community officers caused the banks to act recklessly. Then they moved on and blamed the vulnerable in society. The elderly were an easy target so they proposed increasing the pension age. They blamed the disabled and single mums so decrease their benefits even further. And not forgetting the obvious trick of focusing our attention on immigration as a distraction technique! Get the asylum seekers out but no we can’t be hard on the bankers or else they might just leave the country!
Well guess what? People actually believe this tripe! And its not just the Daily Mail and Daily Express readers either. I would laugh about this situation but this is no laughing matter…this is about peoples lives and the problem is that people can’t see past this ideological mess that the ConDem government claim is in the national interest! Yes some of these cuts would still be happening with labour but the slash and burn approach to these cuts are beyond a joke. Students, the poor, women, the elderly, children, the devolved nations and the public sector are all being hit hardest.
When times get hard, its the vulnerable we really need to look after and not simply become selfish in our quest to tread on those below us as we attempt to clamour to the top. The government have most of us where it wants us….arguing over whose benefits to cut next, with media targeting the vulnerable like a pack of wild animals fighting over a dead carcass. So who is next?? The disabled woman down the road that can’t afford the extra carer she deserves or the pensioner who is looking forward to the coldest winter in years. They also want us to debate which school not to rebuild…… the inner city school built in 1935 to accommodate 600 and now catering for 1600 or the primary school with a heating system several generations old? Oh wait they’ve scrapped that policy so we can’t even debate that or the thousands of building contracts lost in the process.
One area of education that is being hotly debated is the issue of university tuition fees. The Browne review was finally published this week and I have to admit I was a little surprised. Not surprised that the recommendations were suggesting a rise in fees, because lets be honest, the National Union of Students (NUS) policies’ of the past few years which included having tea with politicians and giving gentle hints here and there, were hardly going to rock the boat let alone cause a ripple in this area. However, what did shock me was the news that the cap would be lifted completely making tuition fees unlimited which is unbelievably regressive to say the least. Yes the University and College Union (UCU) and many students on the left warned NUS that this would happen, but to be honest I didn’t think the result was going to be this bad. Give them an inch and they take a mile!
Regardless of what people say, EDUCATION IS A RIGHT and not a privilege. The reason why education for the masses is implemented is not because the government is doing us a favour and it is not a reward for being lucky enough to be living in a middle income or wealthy family either. It’s because everyone has a right to be be born with equal opportunities and be given the same opportunities to be equipped with the necessary skills to advance personally and professionally regardless of income or background. Any barriers to achieving equality in education cannot be justified. One obvious example is the case of Brown v Board of Education 1954 in the USA (which determined that denying black children equal educational opportunities was unconstitutional). We now know however that the debate on educational achievement and educational opportunities in the UK currently centres on class divisions rather than race, so if this is the case why is it acceptable to put fees in place to create another barrier to progression?
This barrier to education is made worse by institutionalised racism in the education sector as outlined in the Ajegbo report. Creating a market place for higher education will only compound problems, as we will see a return to elitism in the sector, with predominantly white upper class privately educated individuals reaffirming their positions at the most prestigious institutions. These individuals will pay tens of thousands of pounds up front to attend the best courses and barely dent their bank balances. All this happening whilst those with the necessary grades from poorer backgrounds once again are forced to close the door on their dreams, put up with second rate courses and still be shut out from the best universities. This is worrying for the Black and Minority Ethinic (BME) students who make little impact in elitist universities already as it is. Last year only 8 students joining Oxford where Black Caribbean ….Yes 8! You don’t have to be mystic meg to predict that this figure is certain to reduce not only at Oxbridge but in the Russell group of institutions as the widening participation programme is phased out and as unlimited fees are introduced.
This will hardly be in the news I know, but what we do see is the coalition constantly equating the government deficit to our household finances and telling us that ‘if we were living beyond our means wouldn’t we do something about it the debt?’ Well if that is true then why would any person happily take on tens of thousands of pounds in debt when the government itself is convincing us that debt is a bad thing. Why should the poor who are already saddled with tuition debts of £20k plus at the moment be forced to take on debts twice or three times this size just to get the same degree as someone from a privileged background and be on an equal footing for jobs? For someone from a poorer background this is a huge gamble to take. Come out of the higher education process without a job and you’re saddled with debt paying ridiculous interest repayments for half your life . Fail to go to university and risk losing your opportunity to progress in this marketised economy forcing you you to either opt for a lower paid job with lower chances of getting out of the poverty trap. If you want you could perhaps become an intern (cheap labour under a new guise) or join ‘The Big Society’ rebuilding schools that the government doesn’t want to fix. The choice is yours really.
I know the next generation won’t be able to afford the education that some of these politicians received for free. Not everyone will be able to afford the cost of sending one child to university at the cost of £40k plus. If you’re a parent just hope that your kids don’t have the dreams or the grades to become doctors, because the reality is very dire in that case. Students that do choose to got to university will be priced out of the best courses with the poorest settling for the cheapest education. We have a choice… an education sector split in two with courses for the rich at world class universities and cheap courses for the poor at former polytechnics or a system that rewards achievement rather than a students’ bank balance. I know which system is more progressive and fair to me.
For those that say the funding isn’t available and we should just accept whatever cuts and fees are thrown our way, I say think again. We spend billions on wars with nothing to show for it apart from blood on our hands. The money is there… the government can spend £35bn on trident or invest in our education sectors for the next generation and have billions left over….I know which one many people would choose.
For those thinking that there are ‘already too many graduates so limiting numbers is a good thing’. Then I say get off your high horse and think about the opportunities you want to give your kids. Not every child born today was as lucky as you and me. As we slide down the rankings for education worldwide we continue to fall short of the average of 50% entering higher education for the OECD countries. In Finland, 80% of young women are now going to university. We fall well behind New Zealand where the participation rate for university is 76%, Australia where it is 65% with countries outside the OECD like Argentina on 59% and the Philippines on 52% all far ahead of the UK. In addition to this, investment in the education sector is continually being outmatched by competitive countries within this globalised economy. If the problem is jobs then we need to create jobs to boost our economy. The government needs to reconsider what exactly it thinks is in the ‘national interest’…. a fully skilled workforce in a competitive economy or an unskilled majority of workers in a tertiary and quaternary sector based economy? I know which option makes more economic sense to me.
The truth is we need investment in our education sector not cutbacks, we need job creation to get graduates earning, not job cuts and we need equality in education with no barriers to achievement.
The debates on how much to raise fees, too many graduates and not enough money have either been lost or fail to be justified. Let us not get distracted by the ConDem slash and burn policies and continue to fight over which vulnerable person we get attack this week. We owe it to the next generation to give them all an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams and its their dreams we must fight for.
If you have the grades why should you be shut out of a good education? Education must stick to its principles based on the ability to progress not the ability to pay. Higher education must move away from being exclusive and must be inclusive.
Education is not just for the privileged it is a right for all!
