The Students Are Revolting
Student riots have a peculiar moral authority on the left, it seems. Your normal riot is to be commended for obvious reasons - direct action, spontaneous and enthusiastic agitation against injustice, plus distribution of consumer goods to the disenfranchised. (I’ll never forget watching footage of a riot in my neighborhood in DC; the protestors smashed a window and looted the salad bar, stepping over the jagged glass with styrofoam containers of food. No lettuce, no peace!) But student protests are even better. They’re more idealistic, since students are involved, and idealism is always to be commended no matter how skither-headed the ideal, or inapplicable to reality it may be. Idealists are our purer selves, no? They’re the dreamers whose lofty visions would lead to better things, if only we listened.
Well. There’s been an argy-bargy in Blighty over hiked-up college costs, and the photos show the usual pyrotechnical exuberance. Smashed windows in the Tory HQ, fires set, triumphant faces agleam with the adrenalin rush of destruction, and signs that blare [EXPLETIVE] FEES FREE EDUCATION NOW. Spray-painted signs called the Tories “Scum” and “pigs.” Take a look at the photos of the miscreants, and ask yourself what their majors might be. Economics? Molecular biology? (I suspect they're mostly engaged in Colon Studies, meaning, every one of their college textbooks has a colon in the title. "Shearing the Flock: Mercantilism and Class Inequality in 19th Century New Zealand" or "Singing For Her Supper: Transgendered Nightclub Singers in Weimar Berlin.")
Anyway. As you might expect, the protestors want free education to be paid for by taxing “the rich,” that unmolested demographic which generates inexhaustible wealth by building collector-units over the spots in the earth where gold bubbles up from underground caverns. Guarded by elves. (Who vote Tory.)
Will we see this sort of activity here when the cuts begin?
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Aug '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
I don't suppose anybody in the UK has thought to ask the question, "why is university tuition set by Westminster in the first place? Shouldn't that job be left to the universities themselves?"
Aug '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
These are the rotten, putrid, and bitter fruits of a socialist society in its final throes. Time once was England had a vibrant and productive private sector that gave them the highest standard of living in the world. Even in Dickens' time, the orphanages and work houses gave an education to the children they oversaw. Literacy rates were very high, even among coal miners in Great Britain. It all turned sour with the Liberal Party policies around the time of WWI, and accelerated suicidally when they embraced socialism fully post WWII.
Edited on Nov 10, 2010 at 11:56amOct '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
You would think so, Misthiocracy.
When I first moved up here to BC and got a job at a university, we were under a government-imposed tuition freeze. The quality of education was getting worse and worse as the universities were scrambling to find some way to cover their budgets without being able to raise tuition.
The BC government finally lifted the freeze, and prices skyrocketed the first year, as they reached levels that they should have reached due to market forces. Now, tuition fees can rise a maximum of 2% a year by a BC government mandate, to "ensure higher education is affordable for both students and taxpayers"
We're used to it now, so no riots. But schools are still having budget problems because they can't make any big adjustments if they are needed.
Jul '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
A couple of points.
The guys who are kicking the windows in pictures need better form.
The two coppers being led away because of injury are doing no favors for the woman's police movement.
Re: The Students Are Revolting
I really need to remember that, "colon studies." I think Sowell once observed that you should refuse to pay tuition for your child if they take up any major that ends in the word "studies."
Seldom do tax consumers recognize the beneficence of tax producers. Even more so when they are 18. Alas, even a principles of economics course doesn't correct this.
Aug '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Uh oh. I got my B.A. in Communication Studies.
Aug '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
I realize this will be cold comfort, but at least it's the provincial governments' responsibility and not Ottawa's. The UK system where every decision in one's life is made at Westminster is just bizarre.
Jul '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
So these children believe that the only thing standing between them and a lifetime of idle study and free room and board is a minority political party whose major difference with the full-on Socialists is that they don't capitalize the word "socialism"?
Eurofornia, man.
Jul '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Here in California, the UC and CSU systems just announced another year of rate hikes. Still a value compared to most private Universities.
Also, announced today, California is looking at a $25.4 Billion deficit projection for the coming year. So look for those Higher Education rates to go up again. CSU President salaries are over $300K a year. Do you think that they will see any cuts?
Oct '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Of course these "students" want free education - it's not as if they're going to be graduating with a marketable degree (see "Colon Studies", above). The non-CS students are actually studying, applying for grants & scholarships, working summer jobs, etc. because they realize they're making an investment in their own future. Freaks.
I have friends in Sweden and one of them made mention of the fact that all Swedes are entitled (my word, not hers) to a university education. I like her so I didn't point out the obvious fact that if everyone has an undergraduate degree then it becomes about as marketable as a "Participant" ribbon from an elementary school track & field day.
On the other hand, when you consider how many Brits are permanently on the dole, it's somewhat heartening that at least a few of them are apparently willing to show up something other than on gaming sites for a few consecutive years.
Edited on Nov 10, 2010 at 12:42pmJul '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Can We at least begin the cuts and find out?
Sep '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
The more I see of images like these from Europe, the more proud I am of the Tea Party.
If you're not happy with a policy, vote.
I have to believe that Labor leaders view these made-for-tv riots (did you see the number of cameras in the background) as playing right into Cameron's hands - at least if they have been paying attention to what has happened in France.
I hope Cameron sticks to his guns. Be firm, David, this is no time to go wobbly.
Sep '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Also, just as a quick thought experiment, could you imagine if Tea Party protests were anything close to this?
May '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Misthiocracy
Uh oh. I got my B.A. in Communication Studies. · Nov 10 at 12:22pm
And I got my BA in BS - Biblical Studies, that is...
Sep '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
FeliciaB
Misthiocracy
Uh oh. I got my B.A. in Communication Studies. · Nov 10 at 12:22pm
And I got my BA in BS - Biblical Studies, that is... · Nov 10 at 1:37pm
Really?
Oct '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Socialist nations are between a rock and a hard place. They can have their riots and chaos now by cutting entitlements, or they can postpone them for a few years.
Where education remains an entitlement and where unemployment remains high (as it naturally does in socialist nations), there will inevitably be thousands and thousands of educated, unemployed young people milling about on the streets. They have little to do but bounce their grievances off one another.
What do you call an educated 22-year-old with absolutely no hope of gainful employment? A communist! His only perceived hope of getting a job is the destruction of the old society and the subsequent creation of the worker's paradise. (And who could blame him, really?)
Legions of educated unemployed young people are a ticking time bomb in many nations, especially in Africa.
In "A Christmas Carol," Dickens observes that we must beware both want and ignorance. We must now also beware free education without subsequent opportunity.
May '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Upon reading this, I first assumed you were referring to the students' detailed inspection of their own fundaments. Judging by their knowledge of economics, they've been delving deep into their subject.
Edited on Nov 10, 2010 at 2:26pmAug '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
As it happens there was a similar incident in Dublin last week when a student protest was hijacked by a gang of loony lefties with similar results. Is this ( and the recent carry-on in France) not classic anarchist activity?
May '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Pseudodionysius
FeliciaB
Misthiocracy
Uh oh. I got my B.A. in Communication Studies. · Nov 10 at 12:22pm
And I got my BA in BS - Biblical Studies, that is... · Nov 10 at 1:37pm
Really? · Nov 10 at 1:47pm
Really. It sure beat having to learn how to play the piano whilst suffering from mono. Plus, I loved the subject matter more than music, if that's possible.
May '10
Re: The Students Are Revolting
Hey, off-topic, where do we go to get the final words on District 15B? Is it in automatic recount?
King Banaian: I really need to remember that, "colon studies." I think Sowell once observed that you should refuse to pay tuition for your child if they take up any major that ends in the word "studies."
Seldom do tax consumers recognize the beneficence of tax producers. Even more so when they are 18. Alas, even a principles of economics course doesn't correct this. · Nov 10 at 12:15pm
It will be interesting to see how this comes out in the end. I suspect that Oxbridgers will pay whatever to get that credential, but Manchester and East Anglia may face some competition. But it looks like the markets will finally be allowed to operate there.