Life isn’t fair.
I wish it was, but it isn’t and – sadly – I doubt it ever will be.
Some issues are more obvious than others and some are more serious than others – however one that bugs the crap out of me is education for profit.
Basically I’m vehemently opposed to it.
VEHEMENTLY.
I appreciate running schools and universities is expensive … I certainly believe teachers should be getting paid a great salary … but that doesn’t excuse the outrageous costs that some schools and universities charge for the privilege of their education.
I recently read a report on acquisitions made by schools and universities in Australia, America and the UK and it was frightening reading.
We’re not talking school books and computers … oh no … we’re talking land and property that was in the tens of millions.
TENS OF MILLIONS.
What the fuck?!
Where the hell does a school or university get money like that?
To me, that is outrageous, whether you’re Harvard or, even more shockingly – a school from the northern suburbs of Sydney.
A few years ago, Harvard come out and said, ‘They didn’t want to be a production line for the next generation of super-rich bankers’.
Because I was doing some work with them via Google, I immediately wrote to someone very senior at the organisation to say how positive that was to hear.
I also added that if they really wanted to ensure they achieved their goal, one way they could do it was to double their schooling costs because, let’s face it, people would still pay and for everyone who did, they could allow someone who had no intention to go into the traditional Harvard employment channels, in for free.
I got an email back that simply said, “You’ve got us”.
Of course my plan was inherently flawed – I know that – but making public statements about wanting to ‘do good for society’ or giving out a few scholarships doesn’t fool anyone because as everyone knows, talk is cheap and if they really wanted to make a difference, they would not be acquiring bank balances that make the Greek and Spanish Governments jealous.
Education is a basic human right …
Everyone should have it …
Everyone should benefit from it …
… but all this high-priced education is doing is creating a class system, not of the ‘educated’ versus ‘everyone else’ but of those ‘who have a lifetime of debt’ and those ‘who won’t’ which is even worse in a lot of respects.
What’s worse is that because schools, universities and governments have lowered the overall ‘pass criteria’ to ensure they achieve high pass rates and the illusion of ‘accessibility’ … it’s created a mass of people that [1] think they can go to university[2] think they need to go to university and [3] have a degree but still can’t get a job because there’s so many out there in the same position.
No wonder – as Sir Ken Robinson said – that we are in the grip of educational inflation, where having a degree isn’t enough, it has to be an MBA and soon, an MBA won’t mean as much so it will have to be a PHD etc etc.
We need educated people.
We need smart, clever folk who can help make things better for them and the World.
But apart from the fact not everyone has to go to university to achieve that, we seem to creating a society that is inheriting debt rather than having the skills and opportunities to create more opportunity and profit for everyone.
Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re some amazing schools, universities and teachers out there … I think education is vitally important and inherently beautiful thing … but I worry the people who are benefiting the most from the current system are the ones running it rather than the ones experiencing it and that’s bad news for everyone, especially the future generations.
OK, rant over. Just needed to get that off my chest.