MurielSnark
VIP Member
Jack's nonsense about her university studies really infuriates me. Britain is such a brilliant country for lifelong learning, with a wealth of adult education colleges, a proud history of working class educational institutions and so many ways to enter higher education at any point in a person's life.
Yes, we know high fees and student debt are crippling, we know this government has attacked and undermined the universities, that there's a huge need for more funding to keep arts and humanities programmes, and that academic careers have become casualised due to the neoliberal model.
But... higher education is entirely achievable to anyone who really wants it. Jack's had 20 years since she left school to get her shit together and earn a degree. Or do an apprenticeship to learn a trade. All her blether is just that, hot air.
Just two examples:
1. My friend went to medical school in her late forties. She had to go back to GCSE science and maths, do the very difficult exam to get into a course, commute back and forth for 4 years to uni in another town while co-parenting young kids in her home town. She's bright and hard-working and determined. And she's now a junior doctor in the NHS, having served her hospital internship during Covid.
2. I live opposite a refugee hotel in London. There's an Afghan family living there, mum, dad and young toddler. Dad is an obstetrician but his qualifications are not recognised in the UK. So he's training and studying again, even after having done 12+ years training in his home country. While living in one room in a grim hotel, with no money and all their meals delivered in styrofoam boxes. He'll be an asset to the NHS when he's done.
Jack can sod off.
Yes, we know high fees and student debt are crippling, we know this government has attacked and undermined the universities, that there's a huge need for more funding to keep arts and humanities programmes, and that academic careers have become casualised due to the neoliberal model.
But... higher education is entirely achievable to anyone who really wants it. Jack's had 20 years since she left school to get her shit together and earn a degree. Or do an apprenticeship to learn a trade. All her blether is just that, hot air.
Just two examples:
1. My friend went to medical school in her late forties. She had to go back to GCSE science and maths, do the very difficult exam to get into a course, commute back and forth for 4 years to uni in another town while co-parenting young kids in her home town. She's bright and hard-working and determined. And she's now a junior doctor in the NHS, having served her hospital internship during Covid.
2. I live opposite a refugee hotel in London. There's an Afghan family living there, mum, dad and young toddler. Dad is an obstetrician but his qualifications are not recognised in the UK. So he's training and studying again, even after having done 12+ years training in his home country. While living in one room in a grim hotel, with no money and all their meals delivered in styrofoam boxes. He'll be an asset to the NHS when he's done.
Jack can sod off.
16,000 hits, fuck off.
