Only by giving all young people, regardless of background, the opportunities to make the most of their skills and talent will we be able to build a fairer and more prosperous society. We believe that we have a duty to make every school a good school and since 1997 investment in education has been at the heart of Labour's programme. We've massively increased investment in education from £30 billion to £64 billion in 2007/08 and we've doubled the amount spent per year on the typical pupil from £2,500 to £5,000 per year.
And thanks to this investment, young people are achieving some of the best ever results and more young people than ever before are attending university. We should be proud that Labour in Government are giving more young people the opportunities to achieve their potential. But what more do we need to do?
Last week Gordon Brown and John Denham announced that Labour will help more students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend university by extending financial support. Over the coming year, students from households earning up to £25,000 a year a will benefit from the full grant – worth £2,700 a year and we will see 50,000 more students receive a full grant. A further 100,000 more students will be entitled to a further grant. For more information click here>>
But what more should we do to build opportunity for all?
Message posted by Simon Abu Emil at 12:00 pm, Mon 9th Jul 2007
Have I read the above right? From what I can gather here, the labour Party are bringing back the grant system that they abolished a few years ago. If this is so, I applaud it as a step in the right
direction and a positive move towards enabling people from poorer backgrounds to achieve social mobility and have a fair chance in life. However, the idea of everybody going off to university has
always seemed ridiculous to me as there are only so many people for whom a university education is appropriate and the only way that I could see 50% of the population attaining a degree successfully
is by lowering the academic standard of degrees. In this country, there is an acute shortage of skilled artisans and this is proven by the difficulties one experiences when household appliances or
domestic installations go wrong in terms of waiting and the high charges incurred. Instead of packing everybody into universities irregardless and ultimately bringing standards down so that another
meaningless target is hit, they should be thinking about apprenticeships for many youngsters where older artisans are paid to pass on their real life skills to the next generation.
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Message posted by Simon at 12:33 pm, Mon 9th Jul 2007
I agree that having everyone go into University isnt an ideal situation. As you say, not everyone is suited for that environment. Plus we end up with lack of people in labourering jobs (sorry dont
know the correct term). But being a student myself, there is more to University then just the education. Its a great place to learn confidence and self-respect and how to socialise with a wide
veraity of people. Before I went to university I had very little confidence and had virtually never met someone of a different ethnic group. Your also forced to work for yourself and meet your own
goals. You dont have teachers forcing you to do your work like you do college. If you fail at somethings, its your own fault and no one else. You feel the consiquences. Its not all a walk in the
park. I would recommend everyone try University given the chance, for those reasons alone. You also make friends and get a good opportunity to move out and get independance.
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Message posted by Simon Abu Emil at 08:24 pm, Mon 9th Jul 2007
A good learning experience in many more ways than one. It sounds as though you had good lecturers where you went to. Ones that resist the temptation to spoon feed which, from what I have noticed, is
a weakness of the English education system.
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Message posted by Simon at 09:39 am, Tue 10th Jul 2007
Well I have no complaints about Northumbria University. I would be surprised if there were any lecturers in any Uni's that spoon-fed their students? Most lecturers I've known basically tell you to do
your work or you fail! I would always stand by University as being a good life-experience, and not just about education. Hopefully this will help more people experience it.
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Message posted by Simon Abu Emil at 01:08 pm, Tue 10th Jul 2007
That is good and how it should be or else how are people going to survive in the world of work. I was sickened when Tony Blair stopped grants altogether and felt that it was like people who have had
a hand in climbing up the ladder stamping on the hands of those younger ones following behind them.
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Message posted by Simon at 01:34 pm, Thu 12th Jul 2007
Im generalising when I say this, but the fact is that most MPs are from middle to upper-class families who can afford to send their kids to any University and pay all their fees and board. Alot of
them live with their heads in the clouds and have no idea what its actually like to live down on earth. This is what happens when you have the lardy-dar oxbridge educated people running the
country!!! This goes hand-in-hand with my belief that a country being run by 30-70 year olds cant possibly understand every aspect of life, especially what its like to be young. We have people
running this country who are completely out of touch with reality and what its like to be in working-class or to be subjected to anti-social behaviour, and crime and bed educations. They get adviced
by their "experts" who supposedly understand it all!
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Message posted by Paul at 07:46 pm, Thu 12th Jul 2007
Hi Having read most of the above, about education? Not all students are academic some are practical, but as practical skills do not count in league tables these students are left by the wayside. It
raises the question are the political parties governed by business? It is less expensive to employ cheap labour from the new E.U. countries than an aprentice trained crafsman educated to their full
potential while a student. The same happened in the 50s people from abroad o do work that the British did not want. I found the "streaming" of students in the 50s a very good way of developing a full
and varied workforce, and there was still a place in society for those that did not achieve Uni status. The tradesmen are still required in this country. The house building programme of the Labour
party suports this argument. Where are the tradesmen coming from! E.U. and wating another generation of young people
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Message posted by Simon Abu Emil at 09:55 pm, Thu 12th Jul 2007
These new EU countries have a wonderful work ethos and their artisans are hard working, skilled people who are able to tackle even the hardest of jobs thanks to their flexible approach and
determination. This is especially the case of Poles who have had to survive much hardship, but who ahve still retained their integrity, culture, language and dignity as a People. However, it is not
ideal that so many feel the need to come here. I am sure that it must be a terrific drain upon the Polish economy where their taxpayers have effectively lost out in paying to educate their young
without a return in their social investment.
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