I do not read newspapers too often because it makes me depressed for weeks. I sort of lose my faith in a better world. Over a week ago, I was on the tube and got my hands on a Metro and I have still not recovered from the chock!
In Metro I read that the blue-chip companies increased their pay with 55 per cent the last year and the executives got an average of £4.9 million in bonuses! Seriously, something must be very wrong when some people are allowed to skim the cream whilst others struggle to make ends meet. The country has a severe budget deficit and the solution is not to cut in public spending and take money from the poor and sick. I say cut the bonuses for the fat cats instead and let the real parasites pay for the financial crisis they created!
After Metro I found a Daily Mail hanging around so I read it in some sort of desperation of boredom. There was an article about the new university degrees, which could increase up to £9,000 a year, some people earn less in a year! This, of cause will be of no significant problem for the children of the blue-chip companies and fat bankers but what about the children of the poor? The right wing has managed to introduce the class society in less than a year!
More worrying was that the Universities Minister David Willetts (do they have ministers for anything nowadays?) say he will “weed out poor quality courses”, meaning courses with low job prospects! When I read things like that I feel so tired and hopeless.
The universities will then in effect be turned into some sort of breeding school for more bankers, right wing politicians, economics and blue-chip executives. As if we need more of them. The problem is that if humanities are reduced then the bankers, politicians, economics and executives can make their view of the world as the only truth because there will be nobody around able to argue against their views about what the society needs. The opposition to the conservatives will die out and the papers will be even more depressive to read.
In a democracy it is vital that all individuals have the same access to free, good quality education equal to all. It is imperative that the people are educated so that they can make informed decisions when they go to election. The people have to be able to understand what the politicians talk about and to identify their lies. Then, the voting system would work as a protection of the democracy.
Each individual should have the right to choose their education and how they would like to lead their lives. Poor young people’s future should not be determined on their wealth, as a citizen they have equal rights as the rich to a good education.
I say, open the universities for all!
