It is not very often that you will read a bloggers first post and they will criticise their main audience. Unfortunately however, that is exactly what I feel obliged to do. As a student myself I do indeed sympathise with my peers who feel aggrieved by the Lib Dems apparent U-turn on tuition fees. The student vote was staggeringly supportive of Nick Clegg in the General Election as we are all aware. This was primarily a response to Nick Clegg and his fellow Lib Dem candidates all signing a pledge which guaranteed none of them would vote for an increase in fees. However, as we also additionally know, this week will undoubtedly see the breaking of that oath.
Yet, there were signs that the Lib Dems were not going to actually abolish tuition fees instantaneously. I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with my local Liberal Democrat MP prior to the election and when asked for his personal and his parties position on tuition fees, the response was telling. Without doubt he stated that their stance was to abolish tuition fees. This was after all the reason why they gained the student support. However, when the surface was scratched and the artificial gloss of being in the political wilderness was removed, the reality of the policy began to become coherent. The position he understood the party would take was that total abolition was undoubtedly a goal, yet stating a progressive programme would be required. It would take time. When the time-span was queried, a response of five years was eventually divulged. Five Years! That is the maximum length of the parliament. Therefore, Nick Clegg would have to complete the double miracle of subsequent Lib Dem election victories to enact this primary manifesto pledge. But wait, there is more. Five years was the point at which the measures reducing the tuition fees were to commence. A period more closely resembling fourteen years was accredited for the total abolition of the tuition fees.
That is the first and rather substantial reason why this inevitable vote by Lib Dem MPs is not as striking as students may perceive it to be. The sign was there, not that I am accusing my student audience of laziness. That is already an unfair stigma of the student's status in this country. No. The point is that the students were misled as Clegg failed to highlight the finer details of the pledge. I stop short of describing such behaviour with connotations of deceit and manipulation. Not because I feel that it was neither of the latter, but because such political stratagem has become mainstream in British and Western politics. This does not make it right or moral, I accept that; but it makes it more mundane. Moreover, if we begin to accept this lack of transparency as commonplace, then we can begin to move past our own naivety and not accept politician's policy pledges at face value.
I unfortunately have one final criticism of fellow students. This is with regard to 'The Occupation', as it has been coined at Sheffield University, and all the other similar protests that have occurred nationwide. Please do not mistake me; I am a firm advocate of freedom of speech and the right to protest. It is not the principle I have the issue with at all. If peaceful protests can change one parliamentary vote or even just persuade one person to change their own view on an issue, then invariably they have achieved their goal, even though this may be far short of what they set out to accomplish. However, with specific reference to Sheffield University, 'The Occupation' is misdirected and is punishing the wrong people. The protest, for those that are not familiar with the event, is simply to sit in a lecture theatre, which has been occurring for the past five days.
So what is my problem with the protest I hear you ask? Number One – Student Image. Many students have left on very few occasions, have had little to eat and sparsely washed. This does not make for a good impression of the student stereotype, whilst the whole nation is fixated on our behaviour. As I said before, we are stigmatised for being lazy, for simply getting drunk and doing very little work. Whether this is true or not, and I dare say it will be for some of my audience, this is not the image we wish to portray. We are the intellectuals of our generation and that is how we need to portray ourselves. We have to show that our nation has got a bright future. We are not the generation that created global warming, the nuclear weapon or the financial crisis – which all threaten future civilisations. No. We are the forgotten generation, but that does not mean we give up, that we use this as an excuse or even continue the trend of history by blaming the generation that went before. No. We are different. We are going to make a change. That is what I believe and I do not believe that I am alone. So, now I have established my vision, my primary motive for not supporting protests such as 'The Occupation' are understandable, I hope.
Finally, my opposition also resonates from my belief that the protests are misdirected. For example, 'The Occupation' only hinders fellow students, through obstructing their education, and also the University itself. Will this make the latter keep their independent fees at a lower level when the new legislation is passed, I very much doubt it. It is potentially going to have the alternative affect as all the costs such as the additional cleaning of the lecture theatre and the payment of superfluous security will have to be paid by someone. The University is for all intents and purposes a business. It is not looking to make a loss. They will not pay these charges themselves. No, they will be passed to us: the students. A catch-22 situation some of you may propose. Well, no again. There is a clear solution. End 'The Occupation' and similar protests and be more productive. Peaceful protests to Westminster, to Nick Clegg's constituency ward, I support. (Although, I do stress the peaceful necessity of such actions). Either way, direct your feelings of injustice in the correct manner, portraying a positive image and then you will reap more rewarding benefits. And that is the CRUX of it!
