Educashun

This week, the English Parliament introduced a measure to raise the standard tuition for all English universities from approximately 3,500 pounds to approximately 6,500 or 9,000 pounds, which equates to approximately 9,000 or 14,000 dollars due to recent economic pressures. University students responded by protesting and eventually rioting in the streets of England, breaking windows, being raucous, and basically doing everything that many expect college students to do on Friday nights. First, I think that I should explain England's education system:
1. All schools in England are heavily subsidized, including private universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. This allows for them to keep tuition relatively low in comparison to many universities around the world.
2. The highest tuition any university can charge is about 3500 pounds. Universities in England used to be free until the state began to face financial hardship.
3. The educational system in England's private universities is recognized as one of the most erudite in the world. Those studying law as undergraduates, for example, have the opportunity of achieving fellowships, internships, and jobs at law firms during their undergraduate studies.

Let's compare this to all United States public universities: every year, each state-funded university raises tuition by 10-15%. At my own university, during my freshman year my tuition was approximately 22,000 dollars; now, in my junior year, it is approximately 24,000 dollars. Private universities routinely raise tuition as it pertains to their yearly revenue. Public education has been cut in many states, including my own New Jersey. Do we riot? (The answer: No.)

Across just about every university in the United States, tuition increases yearly. There is hardly an uproar over it since there is no universal funding of education like there is in England. In fact, there is no constitutional guarantee for education at all; that issue is completely left to the state side of federalism. Should there be a constitutional amendment? Probably. Will there ever be? Probably not.

So, what do we do to get better funding for education? Pester your local representatives, congressional representatives, senators, neighbors, family members, professors, Jon Stewart, the Chinese deliveryman, etc. It's the way Democracy works, take advantage of it.

That's all for now,
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