Colleges in crisis FEATURES dustry and at same time to attract dents, it is intrinsically riven with con The Thatcherite plan for higher educa- tion (HE) is in crisis. A scheme seek- ing to serve the short term needs of in- double the present numbers of stu-
our present underfunded scheme is the only way to radically increase student numbers and make education available The privatisation of the polytechnics They are forced to compete and bid for has gone out of the window. It has resulted in taking larger numbers of fee- A materials levy has been introduced for most aris students — in ofler words a top-up fee. This June the universities - and quality in already resulting in money problems paying students, especially overseus stu- dents paying exhorbitant fees, and cut- to all who wish to enter it. ting resources per student. students as commodities The aim is to produce a workforce that is compliant, hardworking, and qualified for the immediate needs of industry: all this without the govemment investing in the longer tem needs of education or The Tories themselves are making it crease in student numbers in the next 25 restricting access and when there is a demographic shortfall of impossible to meet their target of 50% in- slashing educational funding at a time 18-24 year olds, which puts a premium on attracting and offering casier access to HE Ior sections who at present make Icast use providing students with financial support. ycar. They are
leadership has bowed to the philosophy of education and against the Tory loans: There is: are going down the same path and there tre serious worries about academic standards being maintained. There are fears of cuts in student representation and the number of courses on offer — also the Japanese art at the School of Oriental and African Studies has already been privatised - there is no longer access to Japanese art education in thin country for ordinary students. Even the hig universities such as Oxford and London are in a financial crisis with London The NUS while trying to fight the goverment's proposals in itself in crisis. Its new realism and has dragged its foet over stu- ganise national action when the student radicalisation first demanded it, and only or- ganised a demo in Glasgow and then London This year's NUS elections neo a real danger if the left does not unite to defeat the right. Cosmo, a zionist independent with a fake left face stands a chance of winning the presidency if past form of divisions on the Socialists should vote for the left, and The goal must be a leadership committed to building a mass campaign in defence of free Louise Holloway expected to levy a £250 top-up fee to all stu- dent demands for mass action. It failed to or- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 23, April 1990 a lot of support out there waiting to be won! when put under cnormous pressure. exploitation of overseas students; dents before the end of the year! bard left is repeated. transfer to NOLS. cial support, will vote with their feet, and stay A recent report by the Institute of Man- power Studies states that a dramatic opening of access to HE is required if student numbers "The number of 18 year olds with "A" Levels must expand by 50%; = further 50% of work- ing class students must gain "A" Levels, as many women as men must participate and ma- ture students must rise by 50%", It concluded that without a major shift in policy this was unlikely to occur especially with the introduc- Thatcher faces Further problems with the loans scheme: In the foce of students and stu- dent unions taking action and withdrawing their hank accounts the hanks have pulled out of the scheme. And it has hoen revealed that the scheme won't break even until the year There is another problem. When given a choice, students consistently choose arts and social science courses ratber than engineering. even when enticed by the carrot of financial fund PhDs in English, courses which even scribed, whereas PhDs in engincering. with The Tories consistently fail to understand that the only way to increase participation in instance this means providing a living grant are going to double in the next 25 years. sponsorship. People go to great lengths to self- with lack of public funding are oversuh- HE is to make it accessible to all. In the first 2050 and will cost f667 million to introduce! guaranteed funding, go unfilled. pushed the cort of HE onto students and Architect of chaos: Kenneth Baker port. This is a loss of around £1,300 рет усаг It is ludicroos to claim that this will lead to. ment saled that No amount of disengenuous: The removal of housing benefit has further applications to London are static compared to which in squeezing out yet more working class: The contradictions are clear. The Tories and no state money to assist its long-tenn development. Yet if colleges go to the wall, or fail to provide choice of courses and quality to students hetween 1983-86. Now with the Joans Bill going through the last parliamentary stages, students face the abolition of the full grant and the introduction of top-up loans, and the loss of housing benefit and income sup for many students, and that's before your poll tax bill lands on your doorstep or a top up fee anything but decreased access, restricting HE to an even narrower group of students than at Even the Times Higher Education Supple- rhetoric about students paying (actually bor- rowing) their way through college can dis guise the true effect of this Bill, which will he implications, It means that study in London becomes virtually impossible — and already a sharp increase in applications to northern colleges. This has led the colleges to a policy want education to be govered hy the market education, then many students, with no finan- of demanding higher grades for entry — to increase dependence and decrease access". Since 1979 the Tory goverment has parents — cutting €36 million in benefits Page 30
Page 31 obedience to adults under any cir- much more difficult to give them This book is very useful for a Children need to begin to dis very sophisticaled arguments on anyone who wants to concretely understand how to take up these cuss all kinds of insuck at a very people still deny racism has any mixed race three year old, about this can help children decentre, challenge racist teachers, or for feelings, principles begins very children, the child says "I don'! wait until a child is 9 or 0and effect on children before about to empathise with others, If wo teacher educators who want to children's obsession with fair- The ability lo tackle ideas, early and adult recognition of schools who want to develop being deliberately racist, it is the tools to analyse their and others' foelings. A carly way teachers who want ideas, for she denies being black at all. early age; they often take on a whole range of issues, like their anti-racist practise, for In a conversation with a a photograph of some black wide range of people - for into this is through most like them blackie ones' the age of 7. issues. ing an opening for white children to consider the position of people thcir parcats and their teachers, it was a time when some people ar- tise of active leaming. Thia is the that the authors choose examples still finnly rooted in the the prac- how can we tell children to have respect for black people? That is discussion. Primary education is It shows ways into the issues race, It is particularly significant Sealey devote a large part of the If a school is an inviting and poor self-image. What this book "how to do it", not in a prescrip- some white parents worst fears. The whole book is based on gender and age, thereby provid- who are familiar to them before nificance of self concept for all honk to the chos of the school. moving on to take on issues of Without respect for each child, does is to demonstrate the sig- Debbie Epstein and Alison tive form, but by example and black under-achievement was principle that a child can only young children because many dividuals in the school. There what immediately appeals to rewarding place for children, gued that the major cause of the individuals in the school. leam by positively engaging of racism through the usc of of conversations with very has an cffect on all the in- with the curriculum. tance to authority. It is vital that racism is nipped early in the bud REVIEW example of an exchange between about her "Christian cannibalistic ... for a cultural evening'. She is the expenience and good practise obvious that anti-racism must go a white English person, who has 1987. Authoritarian teachers tell- emigrated to another planct, and she is starting voluntary English English children could do an as- concentrates on one of the main achievement of Binck pupils by integrating their culture into the Jenge this notion with a brilliant The helpful teacher explains classes during the dinner break. Morris dancing after school, the factors to the murder of Ahmed Allah in a Manchester school in ing children how awful they are racist abuse is pout of their resis •We'd like to invite the English mothers to make fish and chips theoretical work: it is mooted in of primary schools, It seems so For many people anti-racist sembly on Guy Fawkes, and... seen as one of the contributing also really keen on explaining What stands out about this curriculunt The author chal- deeper than the moralistic ap problems with racism, the at- proach that resulted has heen for being racist can make the litude of the white majorily. the tcacher from this planet. whole issue backfire so that education meant raising the book is that it is not a dry rituals SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 23. April 1990 Sealey is a highly usetul book be- racist education when it was tren- more subtle than that, Backed by scapegoat, the Education Refom anti racist education is not a sub- cause it rots itself in the current ERA. Subtitled 'developing titt fighting Birmingham, B29 6LE. Reviewed by ELEANOR framework have a responsibility ject: it is an overall approach to developments in the light of the racist edocation in predominant The Fiducation Reformi Act was brigade, hut wobblers" as well, those who went along with anti to continue to develop this vital