You really take the biscuit Granted, and you extrapolate wildly from what has actually been written, not what is on the screen.
I would like all children to achieve the level of education of which they are capable; for some I teach, that will be low grade GCSEs, for others, PhDs. I would, in an ideal world, like this to be fully funded all the way through. However, we do not live in an ideal world, so someone will have to pay at some stage. Funds being limited, presumably it is better to fund fully to A levels, so the majority get an education; rather than all the way through to degree level, where only some will benefit. For those degrees that benefit society help could be provided; one could waive fees for medical degrees for example but with a fixed term return of service within the NHS. That is the crux of my argument. I fail to see how that is patronising or naive. I also don't think that everyone should go to Uni at 18; some may want to work and go later; some may not be capable of studying at that level until later. Some are not suitable to go, but are encouraged to do so because of the last Govts targets.
The suggestion of students getting jobs was so that they can supplement their income, not pay their fees. The ones I know use it to help subsidise food/beer/travel etc, not to pay fees, and I did not suggest that at all.
The principle of paying fees for University is well established now, and it's been obvious for a while that they would have to rise. Protesting now is a bit like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
If the Govt has money to invest, I'd rather they set up apprenticeships and training so the 16-21 NEETs have opportunities. Paying people to learn a trade might be a better use of resources and the university route as I pointed out above, isn't for everyone.
As for supporting my son, we are lucky that we should be able to do it, (and given that dh will have had to retire by the time ds goes to uni, extending the mortgage will be an interesting exercise) but he will need to think long and hard about what he wants to do and where if he wants to study in the UK. There are unis in the Netherlands (Maastricht for example) that teach in English and charge far less than the UK does; I can't understand why people aren't researching what is on offer elsewhere, especially as employers value those who are not afraid to move and go abroad.
Given that we know roughly what the level of debt will be that he would incur, it makes sense to me to start saving hard now to meet it and to mitigate what he may have to borrow. I would like to read the small print of how this will all work though, before getting caught up in the furore about the whole thing, and then deciding the best way to work around it.
Incidentally, if I wanted to lock the poor out of education forever, as you mistakenly claim, then I would be doing myself and others out of teaching jobs. Education has opened many doors for those I've taught, including escape hatches for some, but it didn't always lead to uni.