“As I write this, there are rumblings in the media that the British government is set to allow UK universities to charge in excess of £6,000 a year for tuition fees. The more sensationalist rags are speculating that the best universities might even demand an eye-watering £12,000!
This is the cost – the universities say – of having to remain competitive with other universities across the world. Whilst there is much merit in this reasoning, for the prospective student it should be cause to re-evaluate their motives for pursuing a degree.
What is the purpose of higher education? And is it really worth the extra cost?
Shiny-headed, business impresario Seth Godin describes the student’s place in life as this:
“Since you were five, schools and society have been teaching you to be a cog in the machine of our economy. To do what you’re told, to sit in straight lines and to get the work done.
In the early factory era, there was great demand for trained cogs, the cogs even had unions, and cog work was steady, consistent and respected. There were way worse things than coghood”
However, as many commentators have noted, we are moving away from a purely industrial economy of cogs to a knowledge economy. It doesn’t quite cut it anymore to be one of the millions of cogs -sorry, I mean graduates – who are churned out to the tertiary education system each year.”
Read full story by Jonny Rose. I’m planning on going to the Like Minds event on the Thursday (teaching Friday)… what are people’s responses to this story?