Wow, lots of updates. Marmot is scribbling away! When education is moving out of reach for people in a place I hold dear, it is not possible to keep it shut.
A huge cut in UK University budgets was passed yesterday, with the corresponding doubling of student payments. The UK has a blueish government at the moment, and was hit by the financial crisis as hard as anyone. But 9000 pounds in tuition a year? That is more than many private schools that have tuition fees as their only income. Are the Universities supposed to feed the state fund now? Also, one of the governing parties campaigned specifically on opposing the cut, and ended up voting for it. A dangerous exercise for a small and growing party.
Knowing that the UK has a lower education rate than optimal already lacking engineers, doctors and nurses, the cut seems only counter-productive.
In all this, it warms the heart to see my Aberdonian student friends campaigning insistently for their fellow student colleagues down in England. Scotland has free education and is not part of this rise. While this is very fortunate for Scottish citizens, it makes the difference all the grosser. when two persons in the same country can have so radically different rights based on their postcode. This excellent commentary likens the current national protests (these people are not giving up!) to the student protests in France in 1968.
Education makes us better persons. Though this lady seems to disagree: 