We've been through that recently - the late unlamented Australian conservative government tried to pretend that it was 'for our own good' to up the price of those 'useless' humanities degrees and other non-vocational degrees to encourage kids to study 'useful' things to get a job.
Clearly, actually thinking wasn't a priority, as educated people are more likely to vote left wing.
Best of luck with this - watching interesting niche courses run by amazing academics rapidly disappear in favour of accounting units is soul destroying.
So well said, Mic, thank you. My dad, John, a working class kid from Middlesbrough, went to teacher training college, then, deciding he wanted to learn more, took a degree in guess what, History of Art & Educational Psychology, at the Open University. The audacity! He was a special needs teacher in inner London until it broke him. I too have a degree in History of Art, inspired by him, and I now live in New York where I work in a well paid creative job (both my parents were teachers; I saw what it did). I had the huge benefit of a scholarship to a very well known school and the far bigger benefit of John as my dad. I was one of the last people whose university tuition was free. Fuck anyone who would deny anyone else their choice of what to learn. Just fuck them so hard. As always, thanks for your great work and your soul x
P.S. John now lives in France, where one of his younger daughters just got her BSc in Theoretical Physics, for free, and will soon begin her master’s in Climate, Oceanography, and Atmosphere at the Sorbonne. Her twin sister studied Animation & Art, also completely free, and is a freelance artist, writer, and animator. I’d say that History of Art degree paid manifold dividends, but what do I know ;)
P.P.S I deleted and reposted this 3 times as I kept spotting mistakes. Fucking History of Art graduates.
I work in HE widening participation. My heart sinks every time I have to defend WP kids to academic and PS colleagues cos they can't or won't see the bias and inequality in our education system and are just looking for reasons to justify making it harder for kids from low income and other underrepresented groups access HE. The 'mickey mouse' degree concept is just poor excuse for finding another to way to maintain or increase those barriers and attack the arts cos only rich people should be allowed to study for the personal development or educational enjoyment in their view. Jesus, we need a revolution! And the idea that employers only want certain degrees is a proven myth. Most employers don't care - they want the transferable skills a degree or other HE qualification of virtually any subject can give.
When politicians say there are too many students, they really mean those of the poor working class, not their own kids.
We've been through that recently - the late unlamented Australian conservative government tried to pretend that it was 'for our own good' to up the price of those 'useless' humanities degrees and other non-vocational degrees to encourage kids to study 'useful' things to get a job.
Clearly, actually thinking wasn't a priority, as educated people are more likely to vote left wing.
Best of luck with this - watching interesting niche courses run by amazing academics rapidly disappear in favour of accounting units is soul destroying.
So well said, Mic, thank you. My dad, John, a working class kid from Middlesbrough, went to teacher training college, then, deciding he wanted to learn more, took a degree in guess what, History of Art & Educational Psychology, at the Open University. The audacity! He was a special needs teacher in inner London until it broke him. I too have a degree in History of Art, inspired by him, and I now live in New York where I work in a well paid creative job (both my parents were teachers; I saw what it did). I had the huge benefit of a scholarship to a very well known school and the far bigger benefit of John as my dad. I was one of the last people whose university tuition was free. Fuck anyone who would deny anyone else their choice of what to learn. Just fuck them so hard. As always, thanks for your great work and your soul x
P.S. John now lives in France, where one of his younger daughters just got her BSc in Theoretical Physics, for free, and will soon begin her master’s in Climate, Oceanography, and Atmosphere at the Sorbonne. Her twin sister studied Animation & Art, also completely free, and is a freelance artist, writer, and animator. I’d say that History of Art degree paid manifold dividends, but what do I know ;)
P.P.S I deleted and reposted this 3 times as I kept spotting mistakes. Fucking History of Art graduates.
I know who Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was giz a job..!
I work in HE widening participation. My heart sinks every time I have to defend WP kids to academic and PS colleagues cos they can't or won't see the bias and inequality in our education system and are just looking for reasons to justify making it harder for kids from low income and other underrepresented groups access HE. The 'mickey mouse' degree concept is just poor excuse for finding another to way to maintain or increase those barriers and attack the arts cos only rich people should be allowed to study for the personal development or educational enjoyment in their view. Jesus, we need a revolution! And the idea that employers only want certain degrees is a proven myth. Most employers don't care - they want the transferable skills a degree or other HE qualification of virtually any subject can give.
Every word the truth