Student Protest

Tasachan

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Jan 28, 2010
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Bobic said:
Anyway, I am very much against the violent destructive side of the protest. It undermines any serious point people were trying to make, it also causes the protesters to appear like a bunch of uncivilised scumbags.
Pretty much my opinion, as well.
I was so disappointed by the G20 thing in Toronto. Everyone acted like a bunch of idiots. -_- I don't see how smashing windows and burning cars makes your opinion seem reasonable.

On the topic of tuition, I pay somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8000 CAN/year + textbooks (over $400 this semester alone). As far as I know, its not bad... but my brother pays maybe half that a year. :|
 

Kirkby

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May 3, 2010
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SuccessAndBiscuts said:
Kirkby said:
Hey everyone, to catch up none UK residents and people not watching the news....
I would like to register my support for the protesters although you might want to add that this is almost entirely "south of the border" in England/Wales just now.

Yet another reason I am glad to be Scottish first, British second.

Regarding the effectiveness violence gets attention, I'm not saying its right I'm saying it works (see also terrorism) Also "everyone is calling it a disgrace" makes me laugh. France dissolves into chaos at a threat of raising the retirement age but a bunch of students making a protest where some cause a bit of trouble is a disgrace?

Different people different lives I guess.
Well actually it does effect Scottish unis but not Scottish nationals, Anyone wanting to go to a Scottish uni who isnt from Scotland still has too pay the increased amount. (Lucky people from Scotland = P)

Ur definatly right about the Disgrace thing, i woudnt say this was a disgrace, as far as violent protests go this is the least violent iv seen
 

Limie

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Feb 18, 2010
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Hgame said:
Another idiotic decision from Britain, the Con-Dem-nation.
A little number cruncher:
Potential money saved from all of the cuts (Yes all of them) over the next 4 years: £81 Billion

Potential money saved from scrapping Trident, a useless and outdated system: £97 Billion

Now you see why you shouldnt vote for the Tories (or the Lib-Dems, those backstabbing bastards)
The annoying thing about that is that i'm at uni now but at the time of the recent elections i was about a month too young to vote so i have to put up with the results of a decision I was deemed too young to make.
Can I also ask were all of this loan money is coming from? Isn't debt from loans just going to make things worse?
 

Holy_Handgrenade

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Feb 16, 2009
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Hoodsie said:
Bobic said:
Hoodsie said:
Some wanker voted the fucking tories into power.. this is what happenes, they're trying to make uni's exactly like private schools, only the rich can go there... now isnt that a CHANGE from their usual policy
Some wanker? You're aware that more than one person voted right?
Lol its the english democtatic system.. nobody votes :p

(yea was a typo :p )
I don't want to be a grammar nazi but here on the escapist we like to use grammar and check our spellings.
 

thebighead01

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Sep 9, 2010
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Bobic said:
You obviously missed the bit where someone threw a fire extinguisher onto the police from the roof, that coulda been quite deadly.

Also, I wouldn't say the media are that up in arms about it, both bbc and sky news have made a point about saying that only a few of the protesters are being twonks and that most of the students there were being nice, peaceful and productive.

Anyway, I am very much against the violent destructive side of the protest. It undermines any serious point people were trying to make, it also causes the protesters to appear like a bunch of uncivilised scumbags.

And to anyone that says they don't think peaceful protests can work I'll ask you to remember ghandi, the guy's a household name for a reason
good for the students, especially the ones who used violence. Before you idiots start quoting Gandhi let me remind that 1 million people came to the streets of London to protest against going to war in Iraq and we STILL went. And that protest was peaceful beyond any reason. And let me also remind you that protesting against anything is harder than ever in this country. You have details taken, photographs taken, can be arrested under anti-terrorism legislation for protesting, black listed, etc. Please don't be simple by saying that all these students had to so was protest peacefully because lets face it the government will be passing this through parliament whether anyone likes it or not. It's better to go down fighting than on your knees. I just hope there are more protests like this in the future.
 

fullbleed

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Apr 30, 2008
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Cargando said:
£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's only £9000 for certain unis, ie the best ones. You can bet Cambridge, Oxford, York and Warick will all go up to 9 Grand a year. How is this at all fucking fair esspecially coming from people who had their education for free.
There is already enough of a disparity between low income or state educated students and higher earners at Oxbridge Unis, tripling the tuition fees will only make it worse.
No one from a low income family will even think about Oxford or Cambridge when the changes come and that is going to be restricting people from getting the best education they can.

Still... cheaper than America.

 

Hoodsie

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Oct 9, 2010
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Holy_Handgrenade said:
Hoodsie said:
Bobic said:
Hoodsie said:
Some wanker voted the fucking tories into power.. this is what happenes, they're trying to make uni's exactly like private schools, only the rich can go there... now isnt that a CHANGE from their usual policy
Some wanker? You're aware that more than one person voted right?
Lol its the english democtatic system.. nobody votes :p

(yea was a typo :p )
I don't want to be a grammar nazi but here on the escapist we like to use grammar and check our spellings.
Fine I'll speak in complete, and utter, proper english, ultimatly checking my gramatical errors of long words with my new and completly spiffing international web-browser named "google chrome" It's a spiffing thing to have!

Sounded slightly torie there.. :p
 

Danzaivar

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Jul 13, 2004
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Danny Ocean said:
Sebenko said:
Though I'm against the increase in fees, I'm also against the Student's Union, since they don't seem to have a FUCKING ALTERNATIVE.
Yes they do. They said a while ago, on paper, that they advocate the 1% extra tax for the rest of your life (or whatever the value was) in the place of extra fees. Seemed like a great idea to me, too. There's always the odd millionaire who can make up for all the other middle peeps.
Yes because I would just LOVE to pay for a loan that I can never clear, rather than one I can work back to paying. Higher fees is the best choice in a bad bunch.
 

Weaver

Overcaffeinated
Apr 28, 2008
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Cargando said:
£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.
What field are you looking to get into?
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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Lol I paid $40,000 tuition for my college (we couldn't afford the whole thing, I've got a loan now :/)

This is also a widespread problem in the U.S. (rising tuition fees, that is)
 

CompetingMantis

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Nov 10, 2010
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I've been reading these forums for a while, and decided finally to register when I saw this thread because, well, I was there!

I arrived at the Millbank building just as the bonfires got going, and stayed there for a couple hours to watch (and, yes, to chant) as it all unfolded. Apart from anything else, it was amazing to see how easy it is to get caught up in a situation like this, and how easily it can escalate. After about half an hour it was no longer about anything to do with student fees, and the atmosphere was more like a festival, or school outing or something. Everyone was standing around chanting 'Tory scum' and cheering as waves of protestors threw themselves at the riot police.

I truly believe however that, apart from the incident where someone threw a fire extinguisher from the roof (which shocked everyone there, and even prompted the crowd to break out into chants of 'stop throwing shit') most of it wasn't truly malicious and the majority of the violence, from what I saw, was attributable to the actions of about 50 or so idiots at the front of the pack.
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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Lol I paid $40,000 tuition for my college (we couldn't afford the whole thing, I've got a loan now :/)

This is also a widespread problem in the U.S. (rising tuition fees, that is)
 

Bobic

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Nov 10, 2009
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thebighead01 said:
Bobic said:
You obviously missed the bit where someone threw a fire extinguisher onto the police from the roof, that coulda been quite deadly.

Also, I wouldn't say the media are that up in arms about it, both bbc and sky news have made a point about saying that only a few of the protesters are being twonks and that most of the students there were being nice, peaceful and productive.

Anyway, I am very much against the violent destructive side of the protest. It undermines any serious point people were trying to make, it also causes the protesters to appear like a bunch of uncivilised scumbags.

And to anyone that says they don't think peaceful protests can work I'll ask you to remember ghandi, the guy's a household name for a reason
good for the students, especially the ones who used violence. Before you idiots start quoting Gandhi let me remind that 1 million people came to the streets of London to protest against going to war in Iraq and we STILL went. And that protest was peaceful beyond any reason. And let me also remind you that protesting against anything is harder than ever in this country. You have details taken, photographs taken, can be arrested under anti-terrorism legislation for protesting, black listed, etc. Please don't be simple by saying that all these students had to so was protest peacefully because lets face it the government will be passing this through parliament whether anyone likes it or not. It's better to go down fighting than on your knees. I just hope there are more protests like this in the future.
If they'll be passing it no matter what what's the point in causing pointless destruction and injuring innocent, hard working, productive police officers?

And I'd say it's better to go down fighting in a civil dignified manner than like a screaming brat.
 

Snork Maiden

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Nov 25, 2009
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I really don't understand the extent of the uproar here.

MelasZepheos said:
I am from a Middle Class family, and since the Student Loan (for living expenses) is calculated based on household income, I get the lowest amount of £3,000. Meaning I will leave university with £18,000 of debt. If a working class family gets the full amount of Student Loan and a £9,000 loan or grant for tuition, they will leave with approximately £54,000 in debt. This is not fair. Even the Middle Class kids will leave with £27,000 now.
I... don't see how you get these numbers. If you paid £9000 a year on tuition fees plus your £3000 in living loan you're looking at a final sum of £36k. This is £18,000 different to the higher number you've just given me, which suggests the poorest students are given £9000 (your £3000 + £6000 to make up the difference) a year to live on as well. This is just plain incorrect.

MelasZepheos said:
It's not fair and it's probably not possible for them to pay this back. Do you know who can pay that sort of money back? Rick people, the upper class, the so-called 'Social Elite.'
The amount you pay back would be tied to your income upon leaving Uni, just as it is now. After hitting £21,000 you pay back 9% of whatever you earn each year - whether your from a rich or poor background you pay back the exact same amount. The "social elite" have no advantage here, since the amount you pay back is progessive.

Students who graduate and go into low paid jobs are better off under this plan. Graduates not earning the mega bucks are the poor who are most at risk from funding changes, and they're protected by the plan. Graduates from poor backgrounds who go into well paid jobs are no longer poor, and can afford to pay the installments off as well as anyone going into the same job from a richer background.

MelasZepheos said:
Do you know what they'll do next? They have plans to privatise the institution of the Student Loan. That means that Student Loans will be controlled by private firms, like getting a bank loan, interest will kick in immediately after you finish, or even while you're still at university, and will be at a rate set by the private company, not the government. There will only be two kinds of student in the future, those who are from rich families and go to university, and everyone else, who doesn't.
Now this is the kind of thing that *should* cause protests - it's a completely different beast to the current proposals, since private loans *have* to be repaid and generally aren't progressive at all.
 

Hashime

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Jan 13, 2010
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lacktheknack said:
Hashime said:
lacktheknack said:
Hashime said:
That is a lot of money, significantly more than I pay, and I am in very close to the most expensive university program in Canada.
How much? I have to pay ~$6000 a year (about 3000 pounds... huh).
$11 500 Canadian for tuition, residence is $6000 a year.
Wow. Which university is this?!
Waterloo, Nanotechnology engineering.
 

bad rider

The prodigal son of a goat boy
Dec 23, 2007
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In England
"Put student fees up to £9000? lets smash a window and start a bonfire"

Meanwhile in France.
"Put the retirement age up three years? BURN EVERYTHING!! WHY IS THAT CAR NOT ON FIRE? YOU WANT FUEL? YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY! BLOCKADE EVERYTHING, DEATH BEFORE MORE WORK!"
 

rwllay

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Oct 9, 2009
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personally, I feel the "government" has gone too far with most if not all of their policies. As a British student I believe this and many of the often elitist policies of Cameron's regime are doing nothing but making it more difficult for who ever has to clean up their mess.

the protesters have every right to express their disapproval, and if anything could have gone further, as if they had rallied everyone who disapproves of any of the sinister Conservative policies which are largely unpopular. sometimes the only way to defeat a tyrant is to overthrow them
 

Cargando

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Apr 8, 2009
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fullbleed said:
Yeah, but all the universities are going to increase substantially, I was just wondering if it going abroad would be a better alternative.

AC10 said:
What field are you looking to get into?
I haven't fully decided yet, could be why I'm so clueless about this. It'll most likely be conservation oriented though, ecology or zoology.