Insert Your Own Snide Headline Here
It's an uncharacteristically conservative blogging day for me. This afternoon on All Things Considered, Guy Raz reported (RealAudio, scroll down to "Britons Protest University Fee Plan") that British students are aghast -- aghast, I tell you! -- that Tony Blair is suggesting that they ought to contribute to their own tuition expenses for University, given the crushing debts the institutions are operating under.
After they've attended school.
After they've got a job.
After they're making the median salary.
At which point they'd be paying, on average, 8 dollars a week for 10 to 15 years for a college education.
Interest free.
Not only do the "self-consciously radical students" decry this as turning British schools into rich-only enclaves just like American colleges, but Blair is having difficulty selling the plan to half his own party.
It's a fascinating, infuriating story with an interesting look at just how competitive Cambridge and the others are (not as competitive as you'd think). Raz's snideness comes through, and for once I don't mind the lack of the "objective" voice.
Comments
I have three words:
Suck. It. Up.
If Blair's proposal will produce the revenue needed to help the universities recover, then it's a damn sight better than anything we have here in the US.
Posted by: Shannon | December 10, 2003 9:12 PM
Hmm.. why not let the masses have it their way, and in a few years when the colleges go under due to debt simply mention it could have been prevented if not for the bellyaching of the masses.
Then shoot them all in the head.
Posted by: Rob | December 11, 2003 8:42 AM