I know that Britain is having the same budget crunch as we are, but is tripling university tuition a good place to increase revenues? It seems to me that less young people will be able to afford an education, and that could have ugly consequences down the road.
However, rioting and throwing bricks through windows is an idiotic response. Police officers have been badly hurt, and the hoodlums have even attacked Charles and Camilla's car. This kind of mindless violence will just make the situation worse.
There are many more pictures here, and they're not pretty.
The vote was not to increase fees, it was to allow universities to increase the cap on fees they are allowed to charge. The current cap is 3,290 GBP, this vote increases the cap to 9,000 GBP. It doesn't mean that all universities will automatically increase their fees to that amount. Most are expected to be around the 6,000 GBP mark. The original recommendation to the government was for NO cap at all.
ReplyDeleteThere are also several measures for relief/assistance etc. for poorer students.
These protesters make me sick to my stomach, seeing the city I was born in being trashed and vandalized by thankless twats (one of whom urinated on the statue of Churchill). Attacking police officers and throwing sticks, placards and billiard balls at their horses. It breaks my heart.
A stint in the gulag might come close to slapping some sense into them. But I doubt it.
I wonder how many are the professional "rent-a- thug" who seem to show up at the riot of the moment...
ReplyDeleteI think what is really disturbing is that this kind of thing has now come to England; I'm sadly accustomed to seeing it in France or Greece or wherever the G8 happens to be. But England? To me, it's as bad as seeing it in the US.
I can only hope that it's a wake up to the average citizen and that there are enough of them to do something.
The price they pay there is also quite a bit less than we pay in the U.S. And what makes them think that anyone owes them a living anyway?
ReplyDeleteAnd what kind of education are they getting in economics? If a university education costs that much, then someone has to pay it. Have they taken a look at the tax bite they pay -- that is, of course, assuming that they pay taxes. But they probably don't pay any income tax. They are just used to getting a free ride.
I really feel for the police; I can't help but think that they're likely trying to fight this with hands tied behind their backs with the realities of how the courts work and what they're told they can and can't do. And I wonder how many have extensive riot training.
ReplyDeleteMatt, comments I read were howls about the "right" to university education. The rationale was that the tax payer should pay for university since that student would eventually be paying for the taxpayer's pension/medical/fill in the blank.
ReplyDeleteI bet the ones who are rioting, outside the large percentage of whom are the aforementioned "rent-a-thugs" are planning on going into arts, sociology, wymin's studies, and other tax-pay subsidized fields -- so they will still expect others to foot the bill. I doubt you see future doctors, nurses, engineers, scientists, etc. in those riots.
ReplyDeleteSo, instead of looking at the issue with an eye to solutions that work, a bunch of Veruca Salt crybabies throw a very dangerous temper tantrum.
ReplyDeleteSpoiled brats.
I actually have an idea that would bring fees down for schools in America and Europe... maybe the University System needs to (a) satisfy themselves with providing education and not delve into things like providing campus health care and meaningless departments with degrees that qualify your average graduate for an exciting career flipping burgers at McDonalds (Women's Studies? Also, much to my embarrassment, my own Political Science), and (b) pay profs and other school workers WHAT THEY ARE WORTH.
It's a true racket what professors get paid. Truly. For basically a part time job. With tons of time off. Blah.
If Universities had to run themselves like businesses, you'd see a much better price structure for students, I think.
But no, people want to keep everything the same and subsidize it. That's like expecting someone else to foot the bill for your trip to Disney World. It's ridiculous. RIDICULOUS.
And don't forget tenure - that lovely that goes hand in hand with crazy pay levels...
ReplyDelete"And what makes them think that anyone owes them a living anyway?"
ReplyDeleteThat's the point, isn't it? They have been conditioned to expect cradle-to-grave benefits & entitlements, and now cannot handle the lessening of those perqs.
That's the point, isn't it? They have been conditioned to expect cradle-to-grave benefits & entitlements, and now cannot handle the lessening of those perqs.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
Scares me to DEATH.
Fay, thanks for explaining the cap. I wasn't sure how the system worked in merry olde England. If the poorer students are subsidized, why are they protesting? Idiots.
ReplyDeleteI hope this kind of crap doesn't start happening here. Tuition is very high, the price of textbooks is beyond obscene, and it's obvious that the quality of education has been dumbed down to accommodate anyone and everyone. We're graduating gobs of people with meaningless degrees, who can't conjugate a verb or multiply a fraction, and who carry an outrageous amount of student loan debt that they'll never be able to repay. Not good. Not good at all.