tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34561290.post7111104479590852987..comments2023-02-20T12:30:26.518+00:00Comments on Freethinking Blog: Protests and political theory - a dialogueNickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17369291708879545309noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34561290.post-11630989546995498662010-12-15T17:36:21.723+00:002010-12-15T17:36:21.723+00:00Thanks for your interesting and pertinent comment....Thanks for your interesting and pertinent comment. I have added a few notes in answer to this as a postscript to my original post.Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17369291708879545309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34561290.post-51437180285679254402010-12-13T19:19:37.480+00:002010-12-13T19:19:37.480+00:00Hmm, a good and thought-provoking piece, well done...Hmm, a good and thought-provoking piece, well done! :)<br /><br />I'm afraid I have to disagree with your conclusions, though. Whilst I agree that having a well-educated populace is in society's best interests, such high levels of education would only reduce the chances of bad leaders getting elected, not eliminate them entirely, and, as such, there is still a danger that ill thought-out government policy could damage university education. Tony Blair's government, for example, was accused of trying to hide failures in the education system by putting pressure on universities to accept people from less advantaged backgrounds who were unsuited for their courses. I reserve judgement on whether or not these criticisms were accurate, but it's not inconceivable that a future government could try a similar manoeuvre, which I think you'd agree would decrease the quality of education universities were able to offer, ultimately resulting in a less well-educated public. It generally being easier to destroy than to create, bad government policies such as this one could potentially do a lot of damage to universities.<br /><br />Given this, I think that it is probably in society's interests to ensure universities' independence from external forces such as the government. This cannot come about, however, while universities are still dependent on the government for their funding, as the government could then threaten to withdraw funding unless universities comply with their policies. I think, therefore, that the best solution is for the majority of universities' funding to come from endowments and tuition fees. Under the current system of student loans, nobody has to pay their fees upfront, meaning that somebody's parents' income is largely irrelevant in deciding whether that person can afford to go to university; what matters is what that person earns after graduating. (Some people may have parents who are willing and able to pay off their fees for them; I would, however, hazard that such people are in a rather small minority.) Given this, poor people shouldn't be put off applying if the government ensures that they are adequately informed as to the methods of funding them, and universities' academic freedom would be maintained.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com