Quote: Harridan @ December 13 2012, 8:18 AM GMT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20700696
But I have a sinking feeling that it means people from poorer backgrounds are deciding that the debt will be too much for pursuing their interests to be worthwhile.
I think young people are more likely to take up apprenticeships and effectively work for four years then 'waste their time' at Uni. Aside from racking up debts, there just aren't enough graduate jobs with decent wages and all the recent University leavers working in Morrisons for £6 an hour feel totally betrayed.
As for your point that only those who really want to pursue further education are going for places, it's made me ponder a bigger subject. I have lots of friends who have never used their degree for anything, ever. Their eventual choice of careers is in no way related to the fields of study they undertook at University.
Similarly, thanks to shows like CSI, there are 1500 forensic scientists being churned out every year by the current system, even though there are only about 400 jobs for this type of work in the UK.
Are people basically wasting four years of their lives? Are previous graduates who are not working in a related field a waste of tax payers money? Should there be some sort of basic control or limit over the subjects on offer?
EDIT: Found out recently that a friend of mine who became a 'professional academic' - Bachelor, Masters, PHD, Post Grad, Teaching, etc. has to give it all up because his wife is pregnant. Is this purely academic route also a waste of time, just going around the system like an intellectual spin cycle? What do professional academics actually acheive?
Controverse away.