eatingcroutons:

pointless-letters:

leather-gremlin:

geekandmisandry:

pointless-letters:

Meanwhile, over on Twitter…..

Haunted Ventriloquist Dummy.

Heyo not to derail this but you know who pays tuition fees by and large?

The people who will never get access to them.

The rich sure as hell isn’t upping their tax rate to cover this which is what these tweets were originally about. But without the other side of the coin by showing where that money is actually coming from then its bad activism. You know where this money comes from? Austerity!

So in demanding your tuition be covered you’re literally taking money, food, healthcare and shelter away from the most vulnerable people in society. Every marginalised person suffers for your tuition when they will forever be denied access to the same privileges you seek. Its literally killing people.

The only time economics are seen to be bad are when they affect the middle class. The poor, the nonwhite, the lgbtqia, the disabled and every other marginalised group gets shat on in boom or bust. But when things get hard the middle class start to feel a tiny part of the lower classes daily lives and then use their significant political influence to get what they need while ignoring where it comes from.

The rich are too powerful to touch and the middle class use the power to have to meet their own needs while shielding themselves from who they truly hurt. The poor.

I completely agree that some groups of people in the U.K. are feeling the impact of an ideologically-driven austerity far more than others, and the burden is not falling on those with the broadest shoulders. I know this makes me sound a bit naive, but the UK is the fifth largest economy in the world. We have enough money to properly look after people *and* make education accessible to as many people as want it without saddling those people with debt for the rest of their working lives. I’d like to see us do both.

Speaking of class, though, and specifically about university education, the Independent reported in December that there was a record gap between rich and poor students winning university places. They also reported that the number of poor students attending leading U.K. universities was dropping. The Telegraph reported recently that the number of poor students dropping out of university is at its highest level for 5 years. I was a working class kid from a working class family (spare me my life from this monstrosity!) and I took is for granted that if I wanted to go to Uni I could, and as it turns out when I did leave school I did go to university. I don’t think the same options would be open to me today.

But yeah, the money is there, I’d just like to see it spent better. More services, more access, more opportunity. Give me libraries and colleges and universities over aircraft carriers that don’t have any aircraft on them any day of the week.

“They also reported that the number of poor students attending leading U.K. universities was dropping.”

I studied at a top UK university. One of my best mates there was from a comprehensive in North London. Even fifteen years ago, when tuition fees were a fraction of what they were today, he knew several mates from his school who were academically brilliant but had been put off university when they’d seen the amount they’d have to pay. 

In 2004 we protested against raising fees to £3000 a year because we knew it would turn even more kids away. Yeah, financial aid is available, but as my mate explained at the time the idea of racking up 

£12k in debt from a four-year degree is fucking terrifying when that’s more than one of your parents makes in a year.

And now maintenance grants have been scrapped, and top universities can ask for 

£9250 a year, and unsurprisingly this is having the biggest impact on access to university for those from poorer backgrounds. The gap between rich and poor access to university is the biggest it’s ever been, and growing.

@leather-gremlin this doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game between education and social welfare – the current conservative government just chooses to portray it that way. There are other places to raise revenue and cut costs. 

Access to both social welfare and education are fundamentally necessary to support a just society.