The politics of strife
Sir: Miss Hereward's letter about student grants (1 November) does I feel contain some dangerous half-truths.
Whether a student has 'won' a grant as of right, or whether one regards the grant as a privilege conferred by society, the fact remains that this is taxpayers' money. While no one would wish any system to deny a university education to good pupils, the present high rate of 'drop-out' at cer- tain univetsities, and some of the trouble- making political agitation, suggest that in fact our system causes many unsuitable candidates to be selected. This means that these students are displacing others who just failed to get in, but who might well use more wisely the opportunities that a univer- sity education gives.
Miss Hereward gives herself away when she says 'surely a young intelligent couple are just the ones who would enjoy a little extra money and have the taste to use it for rational enjoyment'. So these people consider themselves intellectually superior and monopolists of taste, therefore deserving extra money for, of all things, enjoyment? No, few graduates would be so arrogant as to pursue this 'holier than thou' philosophy of discrimination. For every young graduate couple there are a dozen non-graduate couples, earning lower wages, who are paying taxes for the education of those who will take jobs better paid than theirs.
Paul Collenette 7 Margaret Close, Whitley Wood, Reading, Berks
Previous page
