student fees protest

I think the demonstrations are quality. its probably the only way things will change.

this time it's a bit different from the poll tax riots, since most of the demonstrators are Uni students, which are slightly better organised and i can imagine the internet is fuelling it even more so.

Its a difficult one imo.

When you are in the corporate world, you'll soon see that uni grads are very much looked down upon in anything but classic careers where the degree is an absolute must in order to do the job. I'm NOT saying this is my own opinion, but time and time again I see recruiting managers baulk when they see a cv being handed in from a recent grad.

The problem we have now is too many people have been brainwashed into thinking they NEED to go to uni for its own sake, rather than it being something (dare i say it), for people who are at the top of their educational game.

This is opening up a massive can of worms of course cos its going to invite a load of people getting irate about their 'right' to have higher education etc etc, but lets face it - the costs that students are paying for their degrees now is pretty much coming down to how much it costs in the first place. That free degree people got 13 years ago, and the heavily subsidised degree for the past 7-8 years was great and all, but you cant tell me that everyone who wants to go to uni is going to be a real economic/social benefit to this country.

Most people have suffered this recession so far. Students are now having to feel the pain of knowing that what they had up to this point was a helping hand which has (cruelly yes) been pulled away. The private sector had the planks kicked away from under it a few years ago, and now you are getting public/state cuts that the labour government were unable to do (right before an election). The country is on fucking life support with 0.5% interest rates which are pretty much the only thing keeping a pulse going in this country otherwise we would be in absolute anarchy/panic. Welcome to the pain.

U gotta weigh up the pros and cons of going to a university now. Is it REALLY worth 25-50-70 grand of your own money in order to gain a few grand over someone who might have started the same job as you when they were 16-18 and learned the ropes on the job, or at college, or through an apprentice scheme?

Hey i agree about the idea of a free university education. I myself had one and im sure todays students would give me shit about not knowing what i was talking about given the situation we have today .... University offers a level of social mobility, gives people 'time out' before they resign themselves to a life of tax and drudgery and a whole lot more things that ARENT the educational portion of the whole experience.

BUT .... Once again, in a climate of cuts, after a massive boom and a horrific bust, does it make sense to pay students to have fun for 3-4 years of their lives while everyone suffers for what could be regarded as fringe benefits?

Regardless of whether we agree with the cuts or not, they are a given and cannot be avoided. We have no reason to ringfence higher education above all other things. The average person on the street without a degree would have a wholly different point of view if they were asked if we should continue to subsidise students on their journey through life in this day and age.

I'll end with this thought. If labour had not royally FUCKED us so hard, then the tories and lib dems might not be having to do this right now. Not that i like to get wrapped up in a left versus right paradigm any more than i can, but this is now payday for 13 years of absolute irresponsibility.

^It's easy to lump the blame on labour because they happened to be in power at the time. This is payday for hundreds(?) of years of capatalism.

It's just a shame that it might take the likes of global recessions to make people realise. A lot of people, me included, are not protesting because of education cuts. We are protesting because of a corrupt government and because this world is a shadow of what it could be. It just takes a common cause, such as education cuts, for people to unite.

I love the fact that I read this article in a psy-trance magazine well over a year before anybody'd heard of a global recession.

Yeah, but there is not a lot you can do without going to university apart from manual trades, admin work and customer service work. Apart from that you've got crappy jobs working in shops etc

It's seen as an only option for anybody who doesn't want to do the above.

So, lets say you have 10 billion quid to save somewhere else.

Where do you save it?

And why werent students protesting that when the money was being blown left right and centre.

The Olympics is a monumental waste of cash but everyone was teary eyed when we got that one. When we got up to nearly 3 million people out of work due to 'incapacity' we all tapped them on the head and said 'there there' and continued to pay them to sit at home.

The bottom line is nobody gives a shit unless its THEM that is suffering.

By the way, it's not so much that I oppose cuts, I'm just pointing out that I highly value education.

Release all non-violent prisoners imprisoned for victimless crimes from jail though? Too sensible that one I expect.

Good choice of number though brid, according to an English assignment I did in march, it's estimated, by Transform that 10 billion a year could be saved, inclusive of costs, from abolishing the drug war in the UK!

Generally run the country in a remotely progressive, modern way perhaps?

Oh i would advocate that any day of the week if i thought it was a reality.

Im fortunate enough to have made some astute choices in the past few years, but i feel sorry for anyone who has toed the 'normal' line since all people seem to get is eternally fucked in this day and age.

Its a shame the penny hasn't dropped that we don't need wars, eternal police surveillance and endless social programmes that do little more than tether people to the state, and dependance upon it.

Shame really.

Innit. I do think that education is the best way to realise this though. Just unfortunate it's getting cut.

I'm interested to know what makes you think this.

What didn't you understand?

^ Thought you might have misinterpreted something. He said:

We were nowhere near a total or systemic collapse of the worlds financial system. It was simply shaken at the core.

The crux of that article is not about climate change it is about about the world economic system and appears to be absolutely bang on, hence why loads of banks went bust.

The mere fact that vodafone have, and continue to evade tax should have sent the message out loud and clear.

It is US, not the governments, or the corporations who they work for (amongst other people) who foot the bill in the end.

We are nothing more than human resource, to be used to pay off the national debt.

Privatise profits, socialise losses.