the end of education

Some chap has been asked to look at universities in the UK and is about to make a report that will suggest it is OK for universities to set their own fees for degrees - the sky is the limit.



We moved under the Tories last incarnation from a system where the state funded university education to one where the individual picked up the tag.

This original was derived from us in  Wales, where workers funded universities then supported them to educate the brightest as a ladder out of poverty.

The Welsh word for education is ysgol in English that's ladder.   

Lets also  remind ourselves that having a degree was a real profit point from the state point of view as graduates paid shed loads more in tax over their lives, therefore making it  a shrewd investment on the part of the state.

Today students self fund, borrowing money to cover their fees etc which they repay later, as well as paying the higher tax on their improoved performance - Del boy would love it!

But now we have gone a step further universities become just another fee paying part of the education system - just like Eaton or Harrow.

So you will have the top end universities charging goodness knows what a term and the mainstream charging less but of course what will also come in is the bargain basement.

The send us your money and you get a degree without the tedious need for lectures and work.

This will work top end too - if you have dropped a university a big bung in course fees then spent 3 years smoking dope you are hardly going to be happy with less than a first are you?

And you will have lawyers to explain why they were the ones who didn't wheel you into lectures because you could not walk and write your essays because you could not talk and it's all the universities fault.

I got my degree from a Polytechnic, something that used to be viewed as a second rate institution but which had a central council that oversaw academic standards whilst universities set their own.

This is the second nail in the coffin of universal free education.

We will be back to send your kids to the school you can afford.

And if you can't afford school  it's your fault.

So much of what made this country great was a product of people saying: "lets pool our money, send our children to school and send the brightest to university"

"pool our money and get the best medical care for all of us"

It was based on a notion that we are all in this together and we all look out for each other.

That was then.

Neoliberalism is on the march.

Time to invest in petrol and empty bottles methinks.

R