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| Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images |
Firstly let me start by outlining my philosophical view on
education. I believe that education has its own intrinsic value and that
education should be aimed purely at increasing, deepening and diversifying our own
and our society’s knowledge. I do not see the value in education in order to
simply gain a collection of qualifications, or to increase personal earning
potential.
So with that said I am very uncomfortable with the shift in
emphasis of the benefits of university study away from personal, social and
academic development and towards future economic reward. I have sat through a
number of admissions presentations where several slides and many minutes have
been devoted to the salaries of graduates of Russell Group universities as
compared with other universities. With further slides on the career choices of
graduates broken down by both sector and by subject studied. I do not want to
have to tell potential students that the reason that they should come to
university is so that they can earn much more money than they could do
otherwise, it just doesn’t feel right.
So who am I fighting for free education on behalf of? Not
me, I’m through the system with fees of just over £3000 a year, which whilst
not what I would wish for is at least (as someone who has worked since the age
of 15) a tangible amount of money, unlike £9000, which I can’t even comprehend,
and is indeed more than many people earn in a year. I’m fighting for students
that are still in school and, just like me, have fallen totally in love with an
academic subject and want to study it to an even higher level, but who have no
idea what “getting a degree” actually means.
I like many other students have no point of reference for “graduates”, I’m
first generation of my family to attend university and the only adults I had
contact with growing up who had attended university were my teachers, which
only gives a very narrow view of what is possible with a degree. Despite many
of friends graduating this year they are still in the very early stages of
their “lives with a degree” so that’s also not much help to my wider view of
how my life will be altered.
Also no matter how much we push that repayments are linked
to earnings and the fees and maintenance loans will only be paid back when
graduates are earning over a certain wage, debt is still that: debt. Furthermore students from families
with the lowest incomes are the most debt adverse, and I would certainly be
running screaming from the prospect of nearly £40,000 of student debt for 3
years of study. Why spend three years racking up debt when you could spend 3
years working hard and earning money? This question is especially hard to come
up with answers to if you don’t know
anyone who’s chosen to do this, and you’ve seen your parents/grandparents/relatives/family
friends doing just fine thank you very much without a university education.
So in summation: I want all students, regardless of
background, who have fallen in love with a subject to not feel that there is
anything preventing them from studying it further. That is why I’m part of the
fight for free education.
