Do STUDENT PROTESTS make sense?
Students will go to the streets again! Fighting for their rights. They will "show" the goverment:
1.that studiying is not a privilege, but a (human) right.
2.extra taxation of student work will decrease the number of jobs for studenst and one third of them won't be able to afford to study
3. we will have to pay for our college education
4. public money for education will do into private facilities through vouchers
5. studying programmes will stay unchanged, so students won't be able to do much with their diploma
6. we will also invite our parents along... - I don't quite understand why this is a reason to protest.
and some unofficial ones:
7. there are not enough student beds
8. students don't have public transport
9. ...
Well I have researched the student protest phenomena a little bit and here are my conclusions:
All protest usually have one prevailing reason. It can be political( china), social ( USA 1967), religious ( iran, afganistan) , philosphical, just for fun and relaxation ( slovenia 2001 :) )...
And what is the main reason for recent and tomorrow's protests? Hint: Lets look at how the student organistion is funded. The official page tells us this (bottom). Well to make all this complex language more clear lets just say that the big majority of their income comes from student work. More accurately 5,5% of all the student earnings. This means around 4 billion tollars every year. And if the suggested reforms, which have many bad and good points, are accepted, then this sum is going to decrease substantially. And do you know many people ( politics) who would just give up the power to "distibute" large amounth of resources?
And when you see that the main reason is the power to control money flow, then all these irrational, unfeasible demands and unspontanious protests make more sense. Take a look at the reasons and demands again! And although I tried to find an explanation for: " Studiying is not a privilege, but a right!", my research ended in vein. I still don't understand why lower classes which work for a minimal vage should pay for others to study and get better paid jobs or work for lower taxes? I wish someone will explain why this is a right per se?
In May when all real students have exams students should do what they have their special status for - STUDY.
4 comments:
Jure, from your perspective it seems like it is nearly absurd that anyone protests and looking from your perspective it actually does seem so, but there are families that have five children and can hardly get over the month with the money the parents earn. I don't think they look at it the way you do and since there are so many families I wouldn't say that all this is a joke or just for fun. It is a simplistic aspect of a problem, which is far more complicated. Maybe you can pay student fees and maybe some others can, but there are also some who can't. Is studying a human right? No, certainly not, you're right. But this is not the question here. The question is whether it should be a right of everyone to study and though it seems you think it shouldn't there are quite some who disagree with you. And the protest announced is not a joke, it's not about fun. It's about the future of thousands of students, some of them not as fortunate as you.
While I agree with some of what you said I'd kindly advise you to read about ad hominem argumentative fallacy.
Sestrca! Why did I not meet you at the concert, ups protests today? :)
I took a pleasant walk around the protest area after eating a delicious subsidised lunch today. And it seems that my "perspective" is shared by a big majority of student! population. So what did I see? Around 500 joung people of which more than half was not jet students. I also saw almost as many policemen and security guards, which spoiled the almost rock oto?ec or simmilar rock festival mood, which the loud rock band was creating in front of our parliment. Sorry, but it was a joke. Point? If it wouldn't be raining then many more would have come and enjoy the party. But as I said before: PARTY IS NOT A PROTEST. Real protests with reasons which really concern the majority don't need a hired parking lot, a rock stage and loud bands playing to try to attract (ignorant)people. Of "the massive" 500 ( there are 66000 students in ljubljana university) who came to fight for their rights I guess that only 50 really knew what they were there for and their intrests were probably connected with ?OV leadership.
Complicated problem? Indeed, but the point is not about saving the poor families ( argumentum ad populum BTW) but in ensuring that slovenia gets as many well educated individuals as possibile. And as a future student you will soon see that the system is far from being effective at doing that. And by maintaining status quo, we prevent a more just, better funded, higher standard educational system from forming. Furthermore we allow many flaws in the labour market and taxation manipulations. How? By allowing practically everyone to get a student status and allowing many to work "regular" jobs while "poor" families have to pay for that. Lets face it everyone is not capable enough to get a college degree, and the system should not give false hopes by reducing the costs and risks of unsuccesful studying. But all who are capable enough should be given a chance to develop their skills so they can contribute to the society with their useful knowledge.
I don't care about what the "poor" families think, all I care is that if they have smart, capable kids they should have a chance to get a quality college degree with a good programe. And that is where the exsisting system fails and therefore needs reforms. And I don't really care if ?OV loses control over 4 billions a year in the process.
Sergej, good point. Thanks for the advice, I will try to blog as much on argumentation as I can.
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