@[email protected] has movedMay 27

The reform of university financing & specifically the student loan system will only come when we reject the notion that most (or indeed all) the benefits of attending university are captured by graduates (the business model that sees them pick up the entire headline cost of tuition).

A university educated cohort is a major public good in many ways & so the Govt. *should* take on a significant proportion (if not all) the cost(s)....

#politics #universities

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/27/tax-on-ambition-graduates-tell-all-to-student-loans-inquiry

‘A tax on ambition’: graduates tell all to student loans inquiry

Treasury select committee hears that interest rate and repayment terms are ‘extortionate’ and ‘not reasonable’

The Guardian
Show threadClaire McNab

@ChrisMayLA6 Primary & secondary education are almost universally accepted as a common good. They are not just paid out of the public purse for all children as a right, but participation is actively enforced by the courts.

Yet somehow, tertiary eduction is treated by all major political parties as a luxury good, whose consumers must drown in debt until they retire.

If a child learns well, they get praised. But after 18, learning gets an automatic sentence to the Marshalsea. #Dickens needed!

May 27 at 6:16pmWeb
Show thread@[email protected] has movedMay 27

@2legged

I think its all tied up to the pervasive amateurism (and generalist) in our political class - they cannot see how specialists & specialisms are actually useful for society because they are all amateurish generalists

Show threadClaire McNabMay 27
@ChrisMayLA6 Some of thst. But also I think deep fear of an educated populace that can think critically, rather than being Daily Mail fodder. They have a really deep rage at Corbynism, the Greens, SNP, Plaid, critical race theory — all the signs of people who can build a society that rejects their assumptions and rejects being told how to think.
Show thread@[email protected] has movedMay 27

@2legged

yes, that too.... beware the educated voter

Show threadHighlandLawyerMay 28

@ChrisMayLA6 @2legged
But in that case, what's their excuse for getting rid of Adult Continuing Education, all those free or cheap evening classes that used to be run for anyone to take in a vast variety of subject for the love of general learning?

Truth is they are no longer amateur generalists, they are privileged incompetents who don't want anyone else to learn anything but just to grind away in mindless work to generate their profits.

Show thread@[email protected] has movedMay 28

@HighlandLawyer @2legged

I think they can be both amateur generalists *and* privileged incompetents.... but I agree they don't want other to learn anything unless it absolutely necessary to employers

Show threadClaire McNabMay 28
@HighlandLawyer @ChrisMayLA6 The dismantling of Adultt Continuing Education was a huge act iof educational and cultural vandalism. I forget now which Blairite minister did it, but I do recall how they were zealously gleeful.
Show threadGeofCoxMay 28

@2legged @ChrisMayLA6

It's almost as if we're living in a society that wants everyone to have a basic level of education to enable them to get into work more easily, but not the level that enables them to think critically.

Oh... wait...