Students Protests - University Fees

[EggFriedRice]

I absolutely applaud the protests by young students against the rise in university fees, why should they put up with the blatant lies by the Liberal Democrats, I voted for them, I believed what they told me during the run up to the election, now I feel betrayed, like so many other voters, how could they say one thing and then do the opposite? I witnessed today a demonstration by ordinary young people who will be affected by the increase in university fees, I witnessed the heavy police presence, the batons ready to charge, the police filming ordinary young people who have been betrayed, I witnessed the sad state of the UK,

well poor people tend to get above their station, about time we showed them who's boss and re-create a wonderful divide where the rich are rich with rich friends, and the poor can buy tracksuits

So kids can spend 14 years doing nothing while we wait and wait and pay for them to find their self motivation at the age of 21?

Fairyland.

bollocks trollina

chip on the shoulder or what

There are lots of reasons why people's A-level points are not the final verdict on their achievements as children and the best path for them as adults.

I'm sure there are, our crappy primary nc curriculum being one of them.

But I'm coming from a place where I've got one child not uni material who'llbe on the scrap heap, two that will cost me a fortune at uni, a family that has scraped itself up,scrimped, saved, is separated at the moment to service the children's future (won't go in to it but it's to do with work NOT benefits) a poor background, bloody hardworking and I blame Labour for the mess we're in, totally, one hundred pr cent, and to see these idiots on the streets smashing windows because they just hate the Tories and want more of my fucking money well quite frankly the time's gone by. Work hard and achieve at school establish a sytem where uniersity is fr the elite, who can make the most of it, and that will mean that people that dn't go will have a decent crack at starting a career wthout a degree.

There's a certain type of person that thinks university is some kind of privileged club. It's rubbish. Get over it. University is a waste of time for a lot of people. They don't realise they'd be better off not bothering. It's been sold as some kind of gracious panacea. Instead it's just become an expensive displacement activity before joining the real world.

You see I was stuffed at college: the only reason they didnt boot me out was that they knew I was safe (very real physically) there and not at home- child protection being what it was back then. I managed to get my career going after a few false starts and every time I hit a glass ceiling where a degree was considered essential. I didn;t want to halt my career at 25, yet there will always be that ceiling somewhere.

Now, it so happens that for me social work is the next logical step anyway as everything I ever did came back to it- and that has to be a degree career IMO. And better adult, experienced Social Workers than kids with little idea of reality (I know some will be brilliant but some just will not have a clue).

DH went back to Uni when his career upped and moved away: the entire sector he was in collapsed, merged and moved back to England to avoid Bridge tolls. What company was going to take on a 37 year ol apprentice, then or ever? Especially when that apprentice knows what they are doing to a very high level and just needs paper quals- my experience is that most people seem to want to train up a mirror image of themselves, not provide someone with the wherewithal to overtake them in promotions. DH's choices were uni, scrapheap or warehouse work- and after many warehouse applciations we'd come to realise that few logistics companies want to hire an ex logistics manager in their warehouses; whsilt I am sure there are lovely LMs out there the firms we had the habit of dealing with tended to be populated by bullies who liked absolute authority and no challenges to that. DH, sadly, is pretty shite at keeping his gob shut!

Uni isn;t just for 18 year olds and I ahve to be honest- seeing some of their work via DH this week has been almost insulting to my own and dh's efforts. But if cutbacks mean that those who really can benefit later on in life are prevented from going that would be really sad, especially in this current climate.

People seem to forget that labour were talking about removing the cap on tuition fees LONG beofre the new government was elected. Labour would have done it too.

I feel sorry for them but people all over the country are losing out due to the cutbacks. Unemployment is at a record high, people are being made redundant, losing their jobs, their homes, etc. I don't see them in the street behaving like animals.

I agree with your post A1980. Take a look at the Americans they are probably in a lot more poo than us and they dont see to riot and protest. They have realised that everything has gone South and rather than complaining about it they are trying to rebuild.

But it's very hard to rebuild and be hopeful when the authorities seem to have agendas of their own that demand absolute compliance to their ideology in exchange for any kind of support.

True but if we dont start it, they sure as hell wont. We need to try to be positive because the alternative is much worse.

1980 you said it all for me in your 2302 post last night.

Talking about the Americans -- do we really want a system where we have a subtle shift to the completion of education at 21? That's what they have. That's what we are heading for. The sense that if you leave school at eighteen your education is incomplete.

I don't want this.

Taxpayingmom, have you any idea what you are talking about, or do you just rely on the mainstream media? For one, last year's college protests in California against fee hikes and privatisation were inspirational across the world. There are only about 6 million pages on this subject, if you google. Here is a recent post on it:
www.huffingtonpost.com/angus-johnston/u-of-california-in-crisis_b_785392.html

Actually Telsa I work with plenty of Americans as the company I work for has its head office in the US. Alot of the people I work with have kids in uni there and have to fork out alot more than we do here. They just tend to complain a bit less which is what I am saying. The honest fact is that we are not going to change what has been done no matter how much we complain or protest.

I wish people would stop comparing us to Amercia, we have a different system here and we vote and pay tax to keep it that way.

You wouldn't want to compare their health/wefare to ours so why HE. Grrr

'America'

Tuition bill is going through the House of Lords today, don't suppose they will block it.

I am comparing their attitude not their way of life.

There is no reason in a democracy to present a mute, 'stiff-upper lip' response to government policy as moral rectitude. They work for us. People have every right to make their voices heard.

Quite correct but once done move on. Plus does anyone really think the government will listen?

The government needs to listen, or they will not remain in power. And it's not 'done' -- it's going through the Lords today. And even if it passes there, nothing is eternally set in stone; the principles of our society and how best to organise it are a matter for ongoing discussion, and the government of the day continue to be accountable to us in everything they do. There is no point at which the funding and principles of education become an inappropriate topic of conversation.

Never said it was an inappropriate discussion, would just be better served discussing the pro's we still have than the con's all the time. Constructive discussion with governments build countries. Its so much easier to just shrug and moan and complain and be negative. Even if you disagree or agree with the politics that run this country being constructive is by far a better option than the latter. This country needs to adopt a more positive outlook. Personally I dont think it would matter who is in power the cuts would have come. The hard fact is that this country is bankrupt but that doesnt mean the people have to adopt a crap attitude. Yes this is going to make it harder but we can survive it and find a light at the end of the tunnel. The UK needs to remember what we once were and find the way back

"The hard fact is that this country is bankrupt"

No, that's not a fact, not by a long shot.

We're in a lot of trouble and we're having to use Credit Cards to live on as we're spending far more than we're earning but we're not bankrupt. We're still capable of paying our bills and haven't defaulted on anything.

Even Greece, who are in a much worse state than us, aren't actually bankrupt.

Alright for that sake let me rephrase, the UK is broke! For a refresher of just how much trouble we are in you can read the link below
www.cobdencentre.org/2010/08/the-uk-is-broke/