Youth

October 12th was a dark day in the history of British education. Lord
Browne’s review, set up to find ways to off load the burden of higher
education from the state’s balance sheets, went significantly further
than had been expected. In announcing that there should be a complete
free market in higher education, with universities able to charge
whatever they like, Browne signalled that the crisis of capitalism has
forced the government to go much quicker and deeper in their plans to
remould higher education than they had expected.

The economic downturn has placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the
working class who have paid the price for the mistakes of the bosses and
bankers through cuts and redundancies. The youth in particular have been hit
hard with many unable to find work or being forced into education.

Leaving the home you grew up in, the people you will love forever and
experiences to look upon from afar, being an international student is no
easy task, perhaps, even more so, when you come from a small island..

On January 4th a consultation meeting at
Ashington Leisure Centre in Northumberland was held by the Lib/Dem leadership
of the County Council to "discuss" the question of its closure.  The council has to find £33m worth of cuts
this year and amongst the many services being targeted is the town’s very
popular and highly used leisure centre.

The current recession has given people a thirst for knowledge;
a desire to understand what is happening. People no longer need to be convinced
of the failure of Capitalism – they can see and experience it for themselves.
The public look to the bourgeois economists and reformist politicians for
answers and they get no explanation other than some muttering about “greedy
bankers”. This article published by a Cambridge student magazine explains what the Cambridge Marxists have to say about this.

Supporters of Socialist Appeal in Glasgow joined
Greek students in a picket of the Greek Consulate to mark the one year
anniversary of the police murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens.
The murder set off a revolt of working class youth throughout Greece
that was met with huge police repression.

The situation at the University of Arts London is part of the bigger picture of course cuts,
redundancies and deficits across the whole of the public sector in
Britain. Why should students and staff pay for the economic crisis with
their jobs and education? UAL Marxists have organised a meeting for Tuesday 24th (6pm at the student
hub, 65 Davies Street) to discuss the course cuts and redundancies that
are taking place in UAL. A serious situation is emerging, which
ultimately could affect all the students and staff at the university.
Your education, your job, the quality of your work, all are under
threat.

New
Labour, the government that introduced tuition fees and student loans in 1998 and
then narrowly passed a bill to introduce top-up fees of £3,200 per year from
2006, have recently launched a “higher education finance review” to look into
raising the cap on tuition fees (possibly up to £7000 per year) and examine the
way in which universities should be funded. The appointment of Lord Browne, a
friend of Peter Mandelson and former chief of the multinational oil-giant BP,
to chair the fees review has not done anything to encourage university
students, who already face the prospect of an accumulated debt of over £23,000
upon graduation.

Here is a short report on John McDonnell’s lecture at the ULU Marxists Meeting in London last week

Figures published today (Wed) show a continuing rise in UK unemployment,
hiting 2.47 million as at the end of August. This figure is supposed to
be lower than expected – indicating that the recession is coming to an
end – but for those involved it is still high enough – not least for the youth!

As the current economic
climate worsens the government and county councils are targeting education as a
means of saving money. Privatisation, redundancies and funding cuts are
tarnishing the education system that so many other countries strive for. Now, with tuition fees on
the increase – the yearly cap of £3,200 soon to be lifted – competition to get
into what remains of higher education is becoming progressively biased towards
only the more privileged members of society.