Cultural Differences: University- priviledge or right?
My University, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Today I watched a horrible news story on the BBC. UK University students stormed the Conservative Party Headquarters in London causing a riot, destroying a building, shutting down traffic and creating a mighty fuss which required Riot Police, Firefighters and Ambulances to attend. They were protesting the current Lib-Con government’s plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England.
It’s a horrible thing. I respect the student’s right to protest. They’re angry and deserve to have their voices heard but storming a party’s headquarters, endangering thousands, grinding the West End of London to a halt, injuring several, destroying public property? Is this the best way to make your voice heard. The students who have participated in this part of the protest will surely be arrested and made an example of. I wonder if they considered that when they put on their protest gear and picked up their placards this morning?
I, as an American, am amazed that it costs so little, relatively speaking, to attend University in England. The idea that University should be a right is what boggles my mind. I consider it a priviledge and thus, unfortunately, is not available for everyone. In the US it is generally the “done thing” to go to University when you finish high school at 17 or 18. It’s where a lot of people “find themselves” and sometimes spend 5+ years doing so. It’s not easy to get into in the US. When I went to University nearly *cough cough* 23 years ago (oh my god I’m old!), I was lucky. I had good grades and decent University exam scores and there was not as much competition to get into University. For those who couldn’t get into University (or didn’t want to go) there was always “Junior College” (similar to College here) or jumping feet first into the work force.
What didn’t exist, in the US, was FREE education. If you wanted to go to University you had to pay. Full stop, end of. There were choices on how to pay. If you were lucky and had generous parents who could afford it (as I did), your parents paid. If you weren’t so lucky you applied for grants and scholarships and loans and ended up with a fair whack of money to pay back at the end of 4-6 years. If you were lucky, your tuition wasn’t outrageous if you attended a “state school” (one of the Universities in your home state where you got a slight break on tuition). If you were ambitious and attended an “out of state” school or “Ivy League” school (Harvard, Yale, Stanford), your tuition for half a year at school could run upwards of $20,000!
I went back to University in 2004 to pursue a second degree in French teaching. I applied for Student Loans and ended up with $10,000 for a year of University. I am still paying back that loan. I will be paying back that loan (at very low interest and minimum payments) for some time. I never once considered it the US government’s responsibility to pay for my desire to further my education. I know you might say, “Well, the US government never paid for anyone’s University education so why would you expect it?” Fair enough. But looking at what Young Americans are paying to “find themselves” and get an education, I don’t think that University students in England have much to complain about.
Yes, I know, perhaps me saying that will get me some negative comments. I know, I’m not English. Maybe I don’t have a right to give an opinion. But I do know that when Little Miss is old enough to go to University, if we’re able to, we’ll pay for her education. If we aren’t, we’ll help her to get a loan to afford her education and when she’s in the work force, she’ll have to start paying it back. If that’s the path she chooses, there will be responsibilities that come with it. I would never expect this country to foot the bill for Little Miss to get a degree. It’s a priviledge to do so, not a right.
I’m not sure what the 30,000 protesters hoped to achieve today. They obviously communicated that they “aren’t happy”! I hope they are happy when they’re sitting in a jail cell and paying back their crimes through community service and fines. I hope they didn’t miss their lectures or any exams today. What happened today is shameful and I don’t think will change anything. Perhaps what needs to happen is that more scholarships and grants need to be created to allow worthy students to attend University. I am grateful for my education and eternally grateful that my parents were able to help me. I continue to pay off my debt and would never expect it to be any different.
Photo courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk
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Fabulously put hon and my sentiments exactly! I went to university and my dad who was on a medium income and supportig a family and another daughter living away at university had to find them money as we weren’t entitled to any help! He wasn’t a wealthy man by any means and my sister and I had to work too to help and she paid her rent and I paid money into their home! It was most certainly a privalidge! In the end they just couldn’t keep it up and I went out into the workforce instead.
There’s far too many kids out there who have it handed to them on a plate, and use it to dodge the workforce and real life!
No one has mentioned how much that disgrace yesterday cost the working population. Riot police cost alot to deploy and ambulances and fire engines too! These so called future of our country cost it dearly and should be ashamed!
Xx
Julesey10- Pip pip! Well said. I was so cross with those students yesterday. Obviously they were heard but look what they did in the process. Shameful!
The demonstrators who did so much damage and brought violence to the streets etc were mainly trouble makers who would piggy back any cause to wreak havoc rather than concerned students I think. I don’t think anyone is expecting education on a plate but like healthcare, when it becomes something that depends on your ability to pay, that is fundamentally wrong. The Lib Dems’ U-turn on this will hot poorest students and prospective students hardest.
So there and good day. Much love. xx
Linda…thanks for commenting Mrs! As always, good day to you too! Mwah xx
The violence seems to have been a ‘hardcore minority’. It’s such a shame because there is nothing wrong with a protest. But I don’t think a university education should be a right or free. Many students at top universities will have paid for private education so they should be able to afford to pay for university too. As I understand it those who can’t pay, won’t pay.
Interesting picture, btw. One ‘student’ and how many photographers?
Thanks for your US-take on what’s happening to British Higher Education. As someone with three degrees (yes, really) and currently a lecturer in HE, I feel suitably qualified on this topic. (And FYI, I got a grant and loans for the first degree, a huge bank loan for the second, and was v lucky to get scholarships for the third – finally paid all debts off 15 years after starting in HE).
1) The students who behaved violently were a tiny MINORITY. Most present (including my colleagues) were there to protest peacefully.
2) University education in this country has never been free. It’s been paid for by taxation – based on the (admitedly flawed) principle of taxing higher earners more than lower earners, on the presumption that (a) higher earners are more likely to have had a university education and (b) all earners benefit from advances made (e.g. in science, medicine) as a result of university learning.
3) The history of ‘free’ HE in the UK was based on the old system where HE was indeed a privilege afforded only to those top 5-10% of the country to whom an *academic* (rather than vocational) education would be of use (both to them individually and to the nation as a whole – theoretically). Since Blair’s call to get 50% of young people into HE, and the 1992 conversation of polytechnics (which offered excellent vocational courses to students more suited to non-academic jobs) into universities (offering rubbish ‘academic’ courses – think media studies to students not suited to academic learning) – we have witnessed the dumbing down of university education, the eradication of good quality vocational teaching (no wonder a plumber/electrician costs so much these days – we have a huge shortage because everyone is off doing university degrees) and consequently a rising cost in university education that has to be funded by someone (I’d charge it to Blair for introducing such stupid policies in the first place).
3) The comparison to US higher education is not strictly fair because (believe it or not) scholarships are much more widely available than in the UK where there is not a culture of alumni giving financial support (e.g. endowments) to their alma mater (as the Americans would say). In the UK it is practically impossible to get an undergraduate scholarship.
4) Just since the introduction of top-up fees in 2004 I personally have seen a huge change in the class of students attending my London-based university. Bright working-class students are certainly noy being educated at my institution, I hope they’re getting an education elsewhere because that’s what I got. I am the first person in my entire extended family to get a degree (my Mum jokes that she has three children and went to three graduations – unforuntately they were all mine) and come from a working-class background (I know everyone claims that these days, but I really do!). In the proposed fee status I don’t think I would have wanted to risk taking on that much debt – it would have led to a debt my family could not even imagine (being more than my Dad’s annual income).
So then, rant over. Please tell me that I’m wrong?
Charlotte- Thank you for that brilliant information in your comment. As per your #3 point- yes, scholarships are much more readily available in the US so “aid” is somewhat easier. You don’t generally find “full ride” scholarships for anything other than sports or arts but you can get certain costs deferred by scholarships and grants. I am hoping that this option will begin to grow here in the UK. I most certainly don’t know everything about UK Higher Ed so I appreciate your comments and education! Congrats to you on furthering your education in the way you did. I know it was a minority yesterday but what a shame that it ended the way it did. Violence never solves anything. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Our two countries have a lot of differences don’t they!
Preseli Mags- Thanks for commenting. It always is the minority that make the most noise. And I agree, there is nothing wrong with protest. It’s such a shame that it ended the way it did and I do hope that those who were the instigators are punished appropriately. I would guess that the photographers potentially outnumbered the police from the way it looked!
I was very involved in student politics when I was at university and one of the big things back then as student grants were being phased out (I went to University on a full grant and worked to make up the difference to cover food / accomodation etc) was whether we should fight for a return to a living grant or accept student loans and having to pay for some element of payment for our eduction
I find it incredible that 15 years on very little has changed and there are still a group of student agitators campaigning for economically unsustainable outcomes
I would prefer means tested fees with support for students who need it and less for the richer students. That said the prospect of putting two daughters through college is eye watering and one of the things we really need to start saving for