Nice one Michael

Once upon a time Michael Gove thought it would be a great idea to entirely restructure Great Britian's education system without consulting anyone... well, not the Lib Dems, the unions, teachers or most of Parliament.  

Is this yet another example of coalition reactionary politics, another attempt to keep national satisfaction out of the red regardless of the future ahead? It cannot be coincidence that this news comes a month after a disastrous summer for examination awarding bodies. But what is the real problem? Are too many people getting 10 A*s, are they too easy, are they too modular or are not enough people getting basic qualifications? Either way it seems unlikely that turning back time to the 1950s is really the best way forward. If even Margaret Thatcher recognised the flaws of the old system why regress back?

 As a student who has gone through GSCEs and AS, of course I know the system could use some reform but the issue is very simple: to get an A you do not have to achieve 90%, instead the gifting of grades is entirely manipulated for statistical gain by the relative success of the whole country. How can any qualification be equal or fair when the success of a candidate is not based on their sole performance but the proportion of A,B,C and D grades that the awarding body wants to give out?   

This isn’t a solution. It is merely reactionary and cowardly to literally sweep a problem under the carpet by giving up a clearly successful system and whipping up a storm so great that the calm afterwards will not be a magical land of fairies, unicorns and A grades, but more children getting lost in the system.

Will having less students studying at University due to rising fees break the backbone of our future society?

Will less students studying at University due to rising fees break the backbone of our future society? 

When the news is on, it seems to be constantly about cuts and deficit and how the country is planning to deal with it- but can we? 


Now, I'm no expert, but David Cameron and his Lib Dems appear to be scrambling for anything, anywhere to find somewhere to save a few million (be it the NHS or free cheese)- but isn't the whole point of recovering from a recession ensuring it never happens again? This Weimar Germany-style approach to the future, making as many short-term fixes as possible to sustain the maximum level of votes doesn't bode well. Never mind students, we may well have a Neo-Nazi uprising on our hands.

Yes, making students pay triple the current rate for their further education will save millions- but how does this actually help? Surely, getting the maximum amount of students through University and in to jobs, where they will actually begin to financially contribute to society makes more sense than leaving thousands of students with thousands of pounds in lifelong debt; placing a further financial burden on society. But, maybe that's just me.

 Worse still, in classic Conservative fashion,the move predominately benefits the rich of our free society. But,of course, in honour of political correctness they have shoved in a claim to help the poorest of families, to subdue the media and anarchists alike. But where does this leave the millions of families who earn too much to claim help, but earn too little to cope with the financial burden of sending their children to University? People say the class system is dead, but why is it that the living standards of the average earner has become a no man's land, where no Tory cares nor dares to explore (for fear of damaging his spotless suit and already not so spotless reputation).

Maybe limiting the amount of students allowed in to Universities each year would be a positive thing. But, surely, University places should be allocated on intelligence and potential rather than the size of a parent's pay slip.