Student Protest

[Kirkby]

£9000?! Damn, I thought tuition fees were only increasing to £6000 a year. I don't really blame the students for being angry about this, these increases are pretty alarming. On the other hand I hardly see what smashing a few windows will achieve, other than some arrests...

On a side note, does anyone know any decent universities abroad? I have no idea how to quickly see how a good a countries' universities are. What with fees going up and up, I'm becoming more tempted to leave Britain altogher.

It was originally proposed to be 6 grand but the conservatives changed their minds, those wacky conservatives ey = P

Nd theres loads in America but depends what you want to study, im taking a year at Texas University to study Biomed (apparently its good for that) Take a look around its really easy to get a place.

 

[Danny Ocean]

9000 pounds a year? at the current exchange rate between the USD and BPS that totals to $14,553.80 I pay the equivalent of 13,900.20 British pounds PER SEMESTER. And last i checked the consensus is that higher education in the UK is overall better than here in the US. Still think you guys are getting a raw deal?

Sounds easy on paper, doesn't it?
Have you compared the size of the economy of the US and the UK?
Have you compared the price of living in each country?
Have you compared the size of the actual employment market?
Have you compared the average & minimal pay in both countries?

Now you tell me why you guys are paying more than the people in UK.

You forgot to mention that the British pound is worth almost double the US dollar. Your money goes a hell of a lot farther than ours. And the Federal Reserve is to blame but thats another discussion for another time.

Our money would go a lot farther if it was buying stuff from abroad- that's the benefit of a strong currency. However, almost all the running costs of universities in the UK are from the UK: the staff, the building maintenance, the electricity, etc... are all provided by UK companies whose costs are also in sterling. This effectively nullifies the spending power of our currency.

And no, our currency is not worth almost double yours. It's 1.6USD to 1.0GPB.

If I was to somehow work in the UK and paid in GBP at UK wage rates, but be educated by a US firm and live the USA, this argument might be applicable, as it stands, though, it's pretty poor. The exchange rate is irrelevant.

 

[De-Moti]

Why does me think of a raid?

 

[Chechosaurus]

Take a look through history and you'll be astounded by how many revolutions begin with student demonstrations like this one. I don't hold out much hope though seeming as my generation is pretty shit but I like to dream. I'm all for it and the more fire extinguishers throne out of windows onto cars the better.

 

[Darchrow]

It would probably be bad to say I don't really care since I already have to pay £14,750 a year for international students fees. If £9000 was the cost then you would just filter out all the people who just want to go as an excuse not to work but ultimately screw-over the majority of the middle class who don't get benefits towards tuition fees like the working class or the Upper Class who can already afford the education anyway.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Poorer kids can get grants for if they have the brain power...

Not anymore. The caps raised but the grant limit stays at 3,000. This is the problem.

Well buggery fuck no wonder they're pissed

 

[RobCoxxy]

I was going to go there but I couldn't get down for love nor money

Ironically, I couldn't afford to go.

 

[lacktheknack]

Take a look through history and you'll be astounded by how many revolutions begin with student demonstrations like this one. I don't hold out much hope though seeming as my generation is pretty shit but I like to dream. I'm all for it and the more fire extinguishers throne out of windows onto cars the better.

Until it's your car, obviously. And why do we, of all the fat, complacent people, need a revolution? I can think of a hundred countries that need a revolution, Britain is not one.

 

[Kirkby]

Poorer kids can get grants for if they have the brain power...

Not anymore. The caps raised but the grant limit stays at 3,000. This is the problem.

Well buggery fuck no wonder they're pissed

Even if they can get loans it still means that your AT LEAST £27,000 in debt when you leave uni, thats a lot of debt which is going to last a long long time

 

[Bobic]

Take a look through history and you'll be astounded by how many revolutions begin with student demonstrations like this one. I don't hold out much hope though seeming as my generation is pretty shit but I like to dream. I'm all for it and the more fire extinguishers throne out of windows onto cars the better.

How about the fire extinguisher thrown onto the police officers from the roof?

 

[Ham_authority95]

Why the fuck is the UK government in control of university tuition fees?

 

[Albino Boo]

Hey everyone, to catch up none UK residents and people not watching the news....

First of all in the UK the government is raising the annual fee of £3000 to £9000 for university students, this has caused a lot of anger and today a protest turned a little violent today.

Students stormed the Millbank tower and began protesting there. Windows were smashed and bonfires lit but no one was seriously hurt. The media is up in arms about it and everyone is calling it a disgrace. But is it?

I mean as far as i know no ones been hurt and the most violent thing i saw was window smashing and its gotten the nations attention, unlike every other "peaceful" protest so maybe something will now be done.

So topic for discussion.. If youv been following this on the news are you for or against this protest? If you dont live in the UK/dont know wtf is going on, do you think peaceful protests are effective? Or is it sometimes good to cause a stir to raise awareness for an important cause

p.s just to state its important to remember there have been no serious injuries, obviously very violent protests are always wrong

Well the protest got my attention. Normally students restrict themselves to urinating in the street whilst blind drunk, playing loud music at 4 am waking up my children and leaving their rubbish to fester creating a perfect breading ground for rats. Now I see they have added political violence to the repertoire socially responsible habits. I hope you all have to pay the cost of cleaning up after yourselves because I'm sick to death of having to do it. MAybe the reason why peaceful protest went unremarked is because most of the rest of population is fed up to back teeth with stupid self indulgent behaviour. Perhaps having to pay some of the costs of your education will make you all grow up.

 

[Marowit]

I'm for the protest, not the damage.

A more effective, less expensive protest would be arranging for nearly nobody to sign up for Universities anywhere the following year until the government lowered the price.

I agree 100%

Like you said, something like that would actually be effective. Instead some protesters will break some stuff, marginalize themselves, and then ultimately dismissed.

It's like the protests in France recently about the rise in what constitutes retirement age. Massive protests; President Sarkozy signed the bill into law today *slow claps*

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Why would non students want to pay tax so that people can go to university?

1. The benefits to society of having a lot of well-educated people will inevitably come back around to benefit the taxpayer. It was this way for a long time, and people were fine with it. Hell, my parents went to uni for free.

2. It applies to the students who would be leaving university from the point the act was passed. You'd then have only the beneficiaries of the service paying into it, and those who benefited more pay more. It's simple and fair.

1. University doesn't necessarily = well educated anymore. More students = lower standard of education within the universities. Increasing cost is the only way, albeit a really bad way, to reduce numbers.

2. Actually I kind of agree, although I think you'd probably end up paying a lot more than 1 % of tax.

The problem is the government is running out of money. People are saying "Don't cut!", but they have to. Apart from vocational degrees like medicine and engineering, Uni's don't actually contribute anything tangible to society. From a budgeteer's perspective, it makes perfect ecconomic sense to increase the price. The money has top come from somewhere.

Edit: I believe I may have quoted the wrong guy - soz.
Edit2: Nope, correct guy. Soz again.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Perhaps having to pay some of the costs of your education will make you all grow up.

Great way to generalize every youth based on what a few dipshits did...

 

[Sonicron]

... The fuck? I'm a university student in Germany, and I pay about 100 Euros per semester. There have been some seriously screwed up changes going on in our educational system, but looking at what you guys are made to shell out I'm still glad I live and study here.

 

[Kirkby]

Hey everyone, to catch up none UK residents and people not watching the news....

First of all in the UK the government is raising the annual fee of £3000 to £9000 for university students, this has caused a lot of anger and today a protest turned a little violent today.

Students stormed the Millbank tower and began protesting there. Windows were smashed and bonfires lit but no one was seriously hurt. The media is up in arms about it and everyone is calling it a disgrace. But is it?

I mean as far as i know no ones been hurt and the most violent thing i saw was window smashing and its gotten the nations attention, unlike every other "peaceful" protest so maybe something will now be done.

So topic for discussion.. If youv been following this on the news are you for or against this protest? If you dont live in the UK/dont know wtf is going on, do you think peaceful protests are effective? Or is it sometimes good to cause a stir to raise awareness for an important cause

p.s just to state its important to remember there have been no serious injuries, obviously very violent protests are always wrong

Well the protest got my attention. Normally students restrict themselves to urinating in the street whilst blind drunk, playing loud music at 4 am waking up my children and leaving their rubbish to fester creating a perfect breading ground for rats. Now I see they have added political violence to the repertoire socially responsible habits. I hope you all have to pay the cost of cleaning up after yourselves because I'm sick to death of having to do it. MAybe the reason why peaceful protest went unremarked is because most of the rest of population is fed up to back teeth with stupid self indulgent behaviour. Perhaps having to pay some of the costs of your education will make you all grow up.

Do you not think this is a bit of generalisation of students? I know thousands of people not at university who are a lot worse than students and on the flip side i know a lot of students who are the cleanest, most considerate people your likely to meet.

As for the costs of our education, that is what the £3000 is for. It pays very well for our education, in one class you can have 200 students, thats £600,000 a year per class. If that still has no convinced you every Doctor, Lawyer and most Business men attend university, would you not consider this a bit of a repayment to society?

 

[ViaticalTarsier]

Peaceful protest rarely work and violent protest only work if they go far enough. Burning a few things and breaking a few windows does nothing for your cause. That said I'm kinda against the protest. Something had to be done, and unless any of the protesters have a better solution to the cost increase, raising rates is reasonable.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

No no im British, its the only thing playing on the BBC news, admittedly i dont know about other news stations...[/quote]

Apologies, though are they not more concerned with inter party tension right now?
If you're english, may be because of that. We don't care all that much up north.