Americanisation of Education - The Tory Addiction to Friedman Economics is Killing Our Kids Chances

As I sit looking at the headlines hitting us day after day I wonder if

1. I am, as the founder of Linn systems thinks, one of the thick paranoid Scot's who will forever reel against anything Tory
2. One of a small band of people who see where things are really heading.

Let me illustrate the second based on the fact I suspect after decades of education I am not in category 1.

Education

With the headlines all talking about the removal of caps for Uni fee's I wonder what is going to be the difference between the UK and the USA with regard to tertiary education ? One of the great things about the UK used to be that if you had the intelligence and were willing to work you could go onto Uni/College and get yourself a good qualification. How is that going to work if Uni's can charge whatever they want ? At present for instance if you want to do a short executive course at one of the top UK business schools you are talking £10-16k for a short course. How much is a fully blown degree likely to cost ?

We have also seen today a non coincidental announcement that student loans will be subject to interest the same way any other loan is. On the face of it you might think this is reasonable but when you put the two announcements together you can see the impact. Let's say you have to pay £12k per year for your 4 year course. That is £48k debt in tuition alone. Add another £7k p.a in living costs and you have £76k of debt subject to interest just to get your degree.

Who in their right mind starts off their working life with £76k of debt already ?

Then think of the lack of response from this and other govt's to really tackle the banks. They have little or no interest in the banks being truly and responsibly governed because the majority of the senior level shareholders in the banks are the same Oxford/Cambridge/Eton/Harrow mob that fill the House of Commons and Lords.

What a treat for them though thinking of hundreds of thousands of "new customers" for them to charge interest at 10-12 times base rate for the pleasure of what used to be a right to tertiary education.

In the US the system is all about money with the only saving grace being the availability of scholarships. I have a concern that we will get to the point of it being all about money without any interest at all in addressing how we actually get the gifted and intelligent kids into Uni if they don't have the money.

Scotland's Response to Cameron and The Senate

As a Scot I have to say I am absolutely outraged by the actions of Cameron, Obama and the US Senate around the handling of the Al-Magrahi affair.

Taking a step back from whether the decision was correct or not the way in which David Cameron, Obama and the Senate have both commented on the situation and then issued "invitations" to members of another government to come explain themselves smacks of all the bad things that are hallmarks of arrogant and overbearing US and UK administrations.

On Cameron the man is a great tactician. On one hand he can distance himself from this given he was not UK PM at the time and on another he can say "This was a Scottish decision" thereby making the SNP administration seem like some left wing radical govt which takes lunatic decisions.

Obama is the greatest disappointment of all here. An educated man who declares himself a liberal but grasps this opportunity to show he has cahoonas to the US population. He either, like most US citizens, has no idea that Scotland has had its own legal system for much longer than his country has existed or alternatively like Cameron is using this to his own ends.

The linkage to BP on the back of the gulf fiasco is another non-coincidental link which serves him well in allowing the US to continually villify BP whilst conveniently forgetting that with a 40% stake from US investers it has reaped all the benefits of a successful BP for many years.

All in all totally disgraceful bullying tactics from both the US and UK governments.

Maybe we should put the boot on the other foot here ? Some suggestions for the US and UK govt's to come to Scotland to explain themselves

• The declaration of a completely illegal war in Iraq which has cost so many lives
• To answer for human rights abuses (akin to the US concerns aimed at China) in execution of hundreds of people within the penal system in the US
• How is the effort in Bhopal going to clear up after 26 years when Union Carbide flagrantly ignored safety advice rsulting in the deats of 16,000 people and another 500,000 being impacted

The moral of the story ?

1. Back off and whilst you may disagree with decisions at least show some respect for other governments and countries
2. Those in glass houses should be wary of throwing stones.