Ideological madness as government policy
The most important thing to happen during the Commons debate on the government’s higher education policy came right at the end, when David Willets admitted, openly and perhaps even brazenly, that the policy was not dictated by concern for ‘fairness’ or because of the deficit, but by a desire to marketise higher education in England (and thus, to an extent, in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as it will be impossible to totally resist this particular policy). He did not use the word ‘marketise’, of course, but he admitted it nonetheless through his relentless use of marketspeak as a justification for cutting the teaching grant by 80% (80%! That figure has been in the public domain for so time, but is so shocking that it needs to be repeatedly endlessly. Actually, no. Not shocking, but criminal. Especially as it is 100% in the case of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. This government does not believe that the traditional staples of the university have any inherent value) and replacing the money with further contributions from students at levels determined by how much students are prepared to pay. This is madness, absolute madness, and it is the driving force behind government policy on higher education. Yes, it is true that a minority of working class students will be better off financially as a result of certain policy details, but given the tendency of working class students to study in former polytechnics rather than older universities (a tendency that will certainly increase as a result of marketisation) most will in fact end up paying less for less. This government has decided that education has no value in of itself. The longterm consequences will not be pretty.
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