Cameron: Stop Messing With My Education

Since when do working class people deserve second class education?

You'd think that when a whole political party (cough, Lib Dems, cough) is reduced to a few MPs over the tuition fees feud, the Tories would take that as a warning and stop messing with them, right? Obviously not. 

The government have revealed new plans to allow the best universities to raise their fees above £9,000. The change was opposed to the National Union of Students, and I struggle to see how any normal person could support it. The NUS said "Students should not be treated like consumers" and that's a pretty hard hitting statement for me. We know this world has a problem when something as simple as education has a 'designer label'. 

Not only is my educational future now uncertain because of the disappearing grants, if I can manage to find the money, I won't get the best education possible, even if I do get top grades. How is that fair? 

This will only widen the gap between rich and poor even more. Certain universities will be more openly seen as 'second class' which will be disastrous for people with no money to splash out with. The rich will be able to afford the higher universities. Because of that they'll be able to get better jobs. Their kids will grow up with a stable and high income, and the cycle will continue. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be even more discriminated upon because of where we were educated. 

I grew up in a small town near Coventry, and it's the type of place where nobody ever really moves out, and most people work very locally in dead end jobs, where they have to work extra shifts to even put smart price food on the table. Now I live in Cornwall, which is one of the poorest places in England, and a lot of shops are only open over the summer. There's not a lot of opportunities in either of these places, and it does feel like the government is giving up on us. 

I understand that the money has to come from somewhere, and I don't support completely free education because to get the most out of our money we could do without under funded universities. And I would much rather pay towards the NHS than than fund someone's 'Mickey-Mouse' degree. 

But there is a fine line between getting our money's worth, and being ripped off completely. By the looks of it, the Conservatives clearly can't tell where that is. When will they stop? One day, will higher education be a privilege reserved for bankers' children? What will happen to everyone else's children? If things continue the way they are, if you're brought up poor there will be no hope for you. There's no two ways about it. So, we need to take action before it really is too late. 

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By: Freya Greenwood, Student and activist. Twitter: @FreyaHope_