Education should be free.
Set the entrance requirement to whatever is required for the course yes i agree, but it should be free. Students should also get a grant to pay for lodging etc.
But this whole loan system is crazy. Its holding back students based on postcodes and wealth.
University education should be free. We should eliminate all access requirements to university, but maintain an objective evaluation system once there. You don’t pass the first year, you don’t continue. Resources could then be concentrated on those that academically deserve them.
However, even this wouldn’t satisfy the Guardian, which seems to think that the role of universities it to compensate for social injustices and become a support hub for victims of intersectional wrongs.
The headline should be pupils who don’t gain the necessary grades could be barred from uni. If every single person had a degree they wouldn’t be as useful. We don’t need more people studying theatre design or art history at a uni not even in the top 100
Coming from someone who worked alongside their alevels and didn’t need to work at uni due to student loans and grants. I know people with rich parents who refused to help (and thus ineligible for student grants or loans) and despite going to a private school still had to work 3/4 nights a week to make ends meet
The whole system and course costs need changing though
I would agree with you completely if university access was about academic merit. Unfortunately, it no longer is. It is now about fairness and special pleading from an exponential pool of victims who don’t make the cut academically, but would very much like the benefits and privileges that accompany a university education.
If we are going to continue down this path, then the only fair entrance requirement that I can think of is that you are able to successfully finish your degree. This being the (absurd) case, then it follows that the only way to silence the whining is the sink or swim approach.
While I’m not sure why a Fine Arts student (say) _needs_ competency in maths, an O Level grade C equivalent in maths and English seems an incredibly low bar to entry to any institution that claims to be a university.
Who’s fearing? All the rich bods benefitting from the loan interest?
England had a long history of fucking over people poorer than themselves so it’s nothing new.
Considering the least likely to go to Uni and the poorest performing group in schools is white working class boys. This is only going to make things worse for a group already struggling with education
The poor aren’t barred from uni under the current system. The people hit hardest by it are the middle class.
Saying you can’t go to uni if you’ve got shit GCSEs is just sensible.
Should be good motivation to study harder and get better grades I guess…
Makes sense to me, if you are getting D or worse at GCSE, you should have to retake that before moving onto what is hypothetically a more “advanced” level of study at university.
If someone seriously struggles with even GCSE level content, how are they not wasting their own time at university on more difficult topics?
It seems like its unis trying to milk you for money, while trying to disguise their curriculum as being university level, while setting it easy enough that they can still grant 60% 2:1s or above to candidates who are getting D/E/F at GCSE.
My mum got a grant to go to uni for free in the 70’s.
Uni entry should rely on educational performance and intellect in chosen field.
Not how much cash mummy and daddy have earned/swindled.
Not being funny but if you can’t get grade C GCSE in Maths and English then university isn’t for you.
Oh no they wont fall into the debt trap and come out with nothing or a useless degree in business? Doing these kids a favor forcing them to work early and work their way up while their peers waste 4 years, tons of debt and go work in starbucks anyway.
GCSE English should at least be a bare minimum for university, otherwise you will struggle to write or demonstrate comprehension at the level expected. GCSE maths should be subject specific but even that is a low bar. While there are barriers stopping those from working class backgrounds going to university that need to be addressed, I don’t think expecting two GCSEs is one of them.
If they want equality for lower income kids, the changes need to be made in the quality of education kids recieve throughput their lives before university. Proper funding and set levels of educational achievements must be made across the board. Unfortunately, the education provided to students in many areas is sub-par in many areas. The disparity in primary education is the cause. Lowering the requirements for admission to university is not the answer. If anything it should increase. The answer is increasing the quality and levels taught throughout primary education with emphasis on bringing all schools up to quality standards.
Wtf? Can’t even get a loan? How are you supposed to pay then? Work 5 years to save up (maybe longer if not living with parents)?
Oh but good news…. No need for a university degree to work for Uber or Amazon….
You know I was about to say that it’s just common sense that you should have at least a 4 (‘D or C’ in the old GCSEs) but then I realised it’s not for the subject you are applying for, but simply in maths and English. That’s a joke lol. Also doesn’t account for other routes to uni
19 comments
Education should be free.
Set the entrance requirement to whatever is required for the course yes i agree, but it should be free. Students should also get a grant to pay for lodging etc.
But this whole loan system is crazy. Its holding back students based on postcodes and wealth.
University education should be free. We should eliminate all access requirements to university, but maintain an objective evaluation system once there. You don’t pass the first year, you don’t continue. Resources could then be concentrated on those that academically deserve them.
However, even this wouldn’t satisfy the Guardian, which seems to think that the role of universities it to compensate for social injustices and become a support hub for victims of intersectional wrongs.
The headline should be pupils who don’t gain the necessary grades could be barred from uni. If every single person had a degree they wouldn’t be as useful. We don’t need more people studying theatre design or art history at a uni not even in the top 100
Coming from someone who worked alongside their alevels and didn’t need to work at uni due to student loans and grants. I know people with rich parents who refused to help (and thus ineligible for student grants or loans) and despite going to a private school still had to work 3/4 nights a week to make ends meet
The whole system and course costs need changing though
I would agree with you completely if university access was about academic merit. Unfortunately, it no longer is. It is now about fairness and special pleading from an exponential pool of victims who don’t make the cut academically, but would very much like the benefits and privileges that accompany a university education.
If we are going to continue down this path, then the only fair entrance requirement that I can think of is that you are able to successfully finish your degree. This being the (absurd) case, then it follows that the only way to silence the whining is the sink or swim approach.
While I’m not sure why a Fine Arts student (say) _needs_ competency in maths, an O Level grade C equivalent in maths and English seems an incredibly low bar to entry to any institution that claims to be a university.
Who’s fearing? All the rich bods benefitting from the loan interest?
England had a long history of fucking over people poorer than themselves so it’s nothing new.
Considering the least likely to go to Uni and the poorest performing group in schools is white working class boys. This is only going to make things worse for a group already struggling with education
The poor aren’t barred from uni under the current system. The people hit hardest by it are the middle class.
Saying you can’t go to uni if you’ve got shit GCSEs is just sensible.
Should be good motivation to study harder and get better grades I guess…
Makes sense to me, if you are getting D or worse at GCSE, you should have to retake that before moving onto what is hypothetically a more “advanced” level of study at university.
If someone seriously struggles with even GCSE level content, how are they not wasting their own time at university on more difficult topics?
It seems like its unis trying to milk you for money, while trying to disguise their curriculum as being university level, while setting it easy enough that they can still grant 60% 2:1s or above to candidates who are getting D/E/F at GCSE.
My mum got a grant to go to uni for free in the 70’s.
Uni entry should rely on educational performance and intellect in chosen field.
Not how much cash mummy and daddy have earned/swindled.
Not being funny but if you can’t get grade C GCSE in Maths and English then university isn’t for you.
Oh no they wont fall into the debt trap and come out with nothing or a useless degree in business? Doing these kids a favor forcing them to work early and work their way up while their peers waste 4 years, tons of debt and go work in starbucks anyway.
GCSE English should at least be a bare minimum for university, otherwise you will struggle to write or demonstrate comprehension at the level expected. GCSE maths should be subject specific but even that is a low bar. While there are barriers stopping those from working class backgrounds going to university that need to be addressed, I don’t think expecting two GCSEs is one of them.
If they want equality for lower income kids, the changes need to be made in the quality of education kids recieve throughput their lives before university. Proper funding and set levels of educational achievements must be made across the board. Unfortunately, the education provided to students in many areas is sub-par in many areas. The disparity in primary education is the cause. Lowering the requirements for admission to university is not the answer. If anything it should increase. The answer is increasing the quality and levels taught throughout primary education with emphasis on bringing all schools up to quality standards.
Wtf? Can’t even get a loan? How are you supposed to pay then? Work 5 years to save up (maybe longer if not living with parents)?
Oh but good news…. No need for a university degree to work for Uber or Amazon….
You know I was about to say that it’s just common sense that you should have at least a 4 (‘D or C’ in the old GCSEs) but then I realised it’s not for the subject you are applying for, but simply in maths and English. That’s a joke lol. Also doesn’t account for other routes to uni