The acceptability of not going to university
The government’s stated intention is for half the population to have experience of higher and further education. The precise definition doesn’t matter any more than whether it was originally university or H/FE. The idea is that we have to have a highly-skilled economy to compete against India and China and so lots of people have to go to university.
So far, so good.
I am absolutely sure that no-one would say that the middle class(es) have a divine right to have their offspring go to a university in preference to the offspring of the working class(es). There are some people born to the middle classes who are not really going to benefit from a university degree. That’s true of all classes, but there does seem to be an assumption that they should be going to university. Unless there is going to be a huge expansion of universities so that all middle class kids can go and we can still skill up the economy as much as possible by making sure there’s room for working class kids to go to university, it’s going to have to become acceptable for middle class kids not to go to university, with everything that entails. Just a random thought - in order for non-traditional people to go to university, traditional people have to make room.
xD.
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
It does seem to me that the _expansion_ in university education post-1990 or so has _not_ helped children from the poorest families. Instead, the expansion of higher education has generally led to more children from the lower-middle-class going to university.
Also, the expansion of higher education without a corresponding expansion of funds has also created a situation where funding per pupil is falling and yet students are having to pay fees for the education.
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Indeed.
It raises a series of questions. If we assume that John McDonnell is not about to become Prime Minister and so that funding for H/FE is not going to increase, is better to have more people going to university with less fuding, increase fees or cut numbers?
April 24th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
That’s a tough question. I think it would prefer to have a situation where more people are going to university - even if this means that per pupil funding is lower. However, in that situation, students will not be recieving as good an education. I think this trade-off needs to be acknowledged. Also, I think charging fees for education is not justified as, i think, society as a whole benefits from an educated population (not just the individuals getting the schooling). And, in a situation were the quality of higher education is poor, it would be particularly unfair to levy fees.