Education I

There is a debate raging right now at BBC as to whether UK universities should be allowed to raise their fees as they please, which could mean fees of up to 20K pounds for some students (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7946912.stm).

Most of the posters seem to concentrate on the monetary value provided by university education. The argument goes like this: If I spend 3-4-5 years in University, I lose the 15K per year I would have made as an apprentice/clerk/etc. When I finally get my degree I should, over the course of a lifetime, ear earn more than I would without having the degree.

In places like the U.S. things look almost the same; Parents set up college funds for the children, hoping that when their child graduates it will end up having a better position under the sun than they did. In fact, most Americans don't think that it's even possible to lead a middle class life without having a degree.

In developing nations like china and India, one can witness massive shifts of students populations depending on the current market trend.

In the context above some degrees are deemed useless; Psychology, sociology, media studies/journalism etc. have such a low return on investment that, if you follow this line of reasoning, it's not worth studying at all; Better flip burgers (see this for more http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article2403006.ece)

So, bottom line is, people see universities as very expensive trade schools. You get training in something, you then sell it on the free market to the highest bidder. As with most things these days, we socialise risk (“getting the degree”) and privatise profits (“slaving endless hours for your boss”).

We are now trying to make the deal ever worse; We ask students to pay for their future enslavement out of their own pockets.