TOP universities – including one from the region – have pledged to fight growing momentum to replace tuition fees with a new ‘tax’ linked to a graduate’s income. (The Northern Echo)
I’m not against the undoubted value of further education however, I paid for my own and I did it whilst also holding down a full time job… So, I have to ask the question; should society really be expected to finance the further education of an individual (in any manner) after school leaving age?
There was a time when people believed a university education was actually worth working for (in AND out of class). It appears this, along with the rest of the ever-increasing list of benefits, is something society owes the individual, irrespective of need or ability.
I for one would be happy to see the introduction of a ‘graduation tax’ to pay for any public funding of university places.
In the USA there is little or no public funding of students going through university. you either pay or prove your worth for scholarships. And, it appears to work, there appears to be a far better work ethic in American students than there is in a lot of British ones. After all, anything worth having is worth working (and paying) for, isn’t it? Why should society and the tax payer be expected to pick up the tab?
People need to get back to the ethos of actually paying for what they want, instead of getting it handed to them on a plate, perhaps then they would appreciate them a little more?
Perhaps all routine public funding should be dropped, then the great British student might be a little more inclined to work a little harder towards their degrees?
Three (or more) years tossing it off doing some intellectually inane social non topic, prior to actually working for a living, should not be seen as a right of passage to adulthood.
Dave's Bankside Babble 