Re: #copsoffcampus protests in London
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:36 pm
When i said that whether you agreed or not with the original protests didn't matter i meant that whether you perceive the original protests to be valid or not has no bearing on the undoubted necessity for the current protests against police brutality.
Your "unicorn management" point at the end of your first paragraph is just a straw man so I won't bother responding to it but I can see where you are coming from (though I disagree with you) about humanities being cut before other subjects. I graduated from UoB last year having studied English. This year the course size has doubled (from around 60 to around 120) an only one extra tutor has been hired. Furthermore, the changes in budget allocation that students have been protesting against are for next year's budget rather than this years so it is unsurprising that you haven't seen a change in the quality of your teaching/resources.
People are worried about the privatisation of student debt because government issued student loans are meant to be an investment in the future workforce of this country rather than cash cows for privately owned corporations. Its really short sighted economically for the government to try and make a quick buck through selling off state owned debt (partly in order to appear to be better reducing the deficit and partly due to ideologically driven privatisation) when this will quite possibly make it harder for future generations to receive a higher education and therefore reduce the employability and skills of our workforce. Yes when signing up to receive a student loan everyone will have undoubtedly signed something which allows the government to retrospectively begin charging interest above inflation on it yet this will have been buried in the small print which people don't read and more importantly as i have already stated student loans should be viewed as a long term investment. The problem isn't that the can't start charging interest but that they shouldn't.
From this it is pretty clear that you have something against all people who partake in protests. You admit that the protests may be valid yet claim this possibly worthwhile cause only attracts people who you look down on. I can't wrap my head around the fact that you take such offence to people actively taking part in a democratic society by campaigning to change what they perceive to huge flaws in our society. Do you really hate all "hippy protesters" so much that you think that the police should brutalise them despite the fact you admit their cause may be worthwhile?m8son wrote:While the reasons for the protests may be valid, unfortunately the kind of person that this kind of thing attracts is the worst kind of person.
I mean the people at the heart of the protests the people who consider themselves the saviours of this generation, i have met a lot of these people and they are insufferable. So i am siding with the police in this case however outrageous you may find that.
Your "unicorn management" point at the end of your first paragraph is just a straw man so I won't bother responding to it but I can see where you are coming from (though I disagree with you) about humanities being cut before other subjects. I graduated from UoB last year having studied English. This year the course size has doubled (from around 60 to around 120) an only one extra tutor has been hired. Furthermore, the changes in budget allocation that students have been protesting against are for next year's budget rather than this years so it is unsurprising that you haven't seen a change in the quality of your teaching/resources.
People are worried about the privatisation of student debt because government issued student loans are meant to be an investment in the future workforce of this country rather than cash cows for privately owned corporations. Its really short sighted economically for the government to try and make a quick buck through selling off state owned debt (partly in order to appear to be better reducing the deficit and partly due to ideologically driven privatisation) when this will quite possibly make it harder for future generations to receive a higher education and therefore reduce the employability and skills of our workforce. Yes when signing up to receive a student loan everyone will have undoubtedly signed something which allows the government to retrospectively begin charging interest above inflation on it yet this will have been buried in the small print which people don't read and more importantly as i have already stated student loans should be viewed as a long term investment. The problem isn't that the can't start charging interest but that they shouldn't.
