As a student-run blog, you could say education is something of our special subject - it is certainly the closest to home, and as a result sparks in both of us the most anger of any subject, sometimes even more than Arsenal and Manchester United. This is especially true when we see our fellow students being so obviously neglected by the Government and educational institutions like the universities we currently attend.
Make no mistake, we understand that this is a difficult time, and there are no easy solutions to what is an incredibly difficult situation. But hardship is not an excuse for incompetence. And sadly, incompetence is what has been repeatedly shown by this Government when it comes to education.
It started last summer, of course, with the exams fiasco, which Luke and I were intimately involved with. After months of uncertainty surrounding the so-called Centre Assessed Grades, many students collected their results only to find out they had been lowered by an algorithm which favoured high-achieving (i.e. usually private) schools. Horror stories of students being downgraded from A's to C's and D's exploded on the morning of A-level results day, sparking outrage even amongst those spared by the algorithm. And having gone through all that chaos, the decision was reversed, the algorithm scrapped, and thousands of students were left hanging in limbo, unsure where their futures lay.
Somehow Mr Williamson, despite being the Education Secretary for the duration of this mess, slipped away from the chopping block and left Ofqual boss Sally Collier to get the sack. How he managed to escape the jaws of ministerial responsibility is completely beyond me - he must have something on Boris (another kid, perhaps?).
The new academic year brought with it a new normal, which we have commented substantially on recently. Online learning has raised serious questions about many student-based issues - not least the mental health of young people, which has significantly worsened over the course of the pandemic, especially in the most recent lockdown, exposing the unbelievable inadequacy of mental health services in this country. But that's an issue for another day.
The other issue raised has been shouted about by students for over a decade now - why are we paying £9,250 a year for a university education? Even in the best of times, around 85% of graduates never pay off the debt they rack up from student loans. So in these worst of times, how are we ever going to pay it back? This of course is not even the main problem here - is the education we are receiving worth the money we are paying? Whatever universities, or the government say about this, I know I speak for all students when I say that online university is NOT of equal value to in person teaching.
I, for example, having been at university now for almost two terms, have had a total of one hour of in person teaching. One hour. Everything else has been through my laptop screen, which I now stare at for hours every day. And yet, despite a petition gaining over half a million signatures calling for tuition fees to be reduced to £3,000 for this academic year, the Government responded by saying "Tuition fee levels must represent value for money", and that it is not considering lowering fees. What kind of value for money does the Government think we are getting exactly?
And if a final nail is needed for Gavin Williamson's coffin, let it be this - his department recently announced increased protections for 'free speech' in universities, claiming that institutions are hindering this sacred principle by no-platforming guest speakers and dismissing academics with undesirable views. If he believes so strongly in free speech, why then did he introduce legislation banning schools using material from groups which oppose capitalism, condone "illegal activities done in their name or in support of their cause", or promote "victim narratives that are harmful to British society"? I sense he, along with many other like-minded souls, only approve of free speech when it suits them. The hypocrisy is astounding.
As a quick side note, critics of the Black Lives Matter often protest that history is 'being erased' when a statue of a slave-trader is pulled down. What about the history of British imperialism erased by this legislation (not that this was ever taught in schools anyway)? Or the hundreds of groups which have used illegal methods over the years to achieve their aims - groups like the Suffragettes or Mandela's ANC? Should we erase them from history too? Or just the bits that it is in your interest to write out of the textbooks?
Not only is Mr Williamson a blatantly incompetent minister, he is wildly hypocritical to a potentially dangerous extent. One question therefore remains unanswered - how has he still got his job?
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