Mama told me to come

The row over higher education funding in England rumbles on, but everyone seems to be very coy about their true motivations.

Take the students, for instance. Their placards seem to show a strong belief in education as a public good that should be paid for out of general taxation (or at least by someone other than the students themselves). But at least one of the protesters admitted to the media that he was protesting on behalf of his parents, because "if the goverment gets its way, they'll have to pay for my education". Well, that would certainly help to explain why so many mummies have been ferrying their kids to the demonstrations.

Then there's the government. It claims to be motivated by the need to save money, and by a desire to see that higher education is mainly paid for by those that directly benefit from it, that is, the graduates. However, many of the things that Education Secretary Michael Gove is implementing at a lower level point to a different agenda. The replacement of "modules" with formal exams for GCSEs and steps to encourage the return of Latin in schools are indicative of a traditionalist agenda. At the university level that "traditionalist" view very likely means that Gove et al think that altogether too many people are going on to higher education, and that the whole sector needs to be scaled back.

We haven't yet reached the New Labour target of 50% of school leavers going to University, but at 40% we're already way beyond, say, Germany, where about 25% go on. It's not hard to make the case that too many underprepared (if not semi-literate) school leavers are moving on to take courses of dubious value at universities of (ahem) limited academic merit, winding up with degrees that employers don't respect. Even if you think that education is worthwhile in its own right, it's hard to see who benefits from that. The Tories doubtless hope that a cutback in funding will both shrink the sector and lead to higher standards, as students shy away from going deep into debt for the sake of a Mickey Mouse diploma. But they can't come right out and say that.

Lastly there's dear old Vince Cable, who played a major role in putting the funding policy together. He now plans to abstain when it comes to a vote in Parliament, in order to preserve unity in the LibDem ranks, even tough he still believes in the policy! Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your party: that's real leadership.