Given that this is happening in both our countries, largely because their bastard leaders have been working together for so long (and I'm sorry, but I am still gobsmacked that Blair was able to guzzle the Bush Kool-Aid -- a direct descendant of Thatcherism via Reagan), here's me:
No university degrees in my family. Grandfathers were estate agent and mechanic (although he eventually owned his own garage, and was offered a scholarship to Cal Tech -- in 1929, so he couldn't take it). Grandmothers came from farming background (although one did have a year at uni, largely so she could meet someone to marry), and one worked as a charwoman for several wealthy families (including Dame Judith Anderson, apparently!).
My parents could easily have done well at uni, but neither were interested. My father has a qualification in fire science, and was a firefighter; my mother was a lunch lady and then a postal worker. In the US, that's solidly working class, or lower middle class. But... we all lived in California which, after WWII, benefited as all of the US did from the GI Bill, and then, in the 1960s, from an enormous tax base and a serious commitment to public education from Kindergarten through university. They went to uni, but one ended up building boats for many years, and the other is a Landscape Architect.
Coming at the tail end of the boom, I was able to also go to uni at minimal cost. The federal government and the state of California gave me need-based grants to pay the minimal fees at the University of California -- back then the community colleges were free and there was no uni tuition, but about $1200 a year in "fees". Had this system not been in place, I would not have gone to a university, full stop, because people with my background generally didn't know that there were scholarships/bursaries available at many universities based on need and merit. Had I not gone to UC, no one would have told me about how to get funding for my postgraduate work. I'd probably be a secretary or civil servant like my middle sister.
My youngest sister, born the year Thatcher came to power, has not had the same advantages. She did get grants, but by then, they were far less than in my day. Subsequently, she is still paying off student loans. My students barely know what a grant is, except for those with veterans' benefits. Their loans are no longer subsidised (the government used to pay the interest on student loans). My nephews, one in the UK, and one in the US, both starting uni educations this year, are living at home, because they can't afford to live elsewhere. One is taking classes at a community college to save money (tuition is only about $1k a semester, rather than the $6k at UC), the other is feeling a bit better about being at LSE, because he can live at home, but is incredibly worried about coming up with the £7k or more he will likely need to finish after these cuts, because his family certainly doesn't have that money. In a bizarre twist that I think shows just how far we have regressed, some pretty wealthy people who employ his parents fairly regularly have offered to cover his uni costs. Um ...
The golden age seems to be over.
In other news, did you know that Warren Buffet claimed that there a class war going on, that the rich were waging it, and the rich were winning?
no subject
No university degrees in my family. Grandfathers were estate agent and mechanic (although he eventually owned his own garage, and was offered a scholarship to Cal Tech -- in 1929, so he couldn't take it). Grandmothers came from farming background (although one did have a year at uni, largely so she could meet someone to marry), and one worked as a charwoman for several wealthy families (including Dame Judith Anderson, apparently!).
My parents could easily have done well at uni, but neither were interested. My father has a qualification in fire science, and was a firefighter; my mother was a lunch lady and then a postal worker. In the US, that's solidly working class, or lower middle class. But... we all lived in California which, after WWII, benefited as all of the US did from the GI Bill, and then, in the 1960s, from an enormous tax base and a serious commitment to public education from Kindergarten through university. They went to uni, but one ended up building boats for many years, and the other is a Landscape Architect.
Coming at the tail end of the boom, I was able to also go to uni at minimal cost. The federal government and the state of California gave me need-based grants to pay the minimal fees at the University of California -- back then the community colleges were free and there was no uni tuition, but about $1200 a year in "fees". Had this system not been in place, I would not have gone to a university, full stop, because people with my background generally didn't know that there were scholarships/bursaries available at many universities based on need and merit. Had I not gone to UC, no one would have told me about how to get funding for my postgraduate work. I'd probably be a secretary or civil servant like my middle sister.
My youngest sister, born the year Thatcher came to power, has not had the same advantages. She did get grants, but by then, they were far less than in my day. Subsequently, she is still paying off student loans. My students barely know what a grant is, except for those with veterans' benefits. Their loans are no longer subsidised (the government used to pay the interest on student loans). My nephews, one in the UK, and one in the US, both starting uni educations this year, are living at home, because they can't afford to live elsewhere. One is taking classes at a community college to save money (tuition is only about $1k a semester, rather than the $6k at UC), the other is feeling a bit better about being at LSE, because he can live at home, but is incredibly worried about coming up with the £7k or more he will likely need to finish after these cuts, because his family certainly doesn't have that money. In a bizarre twist that I think shows just how far we have regressed, some pretty wealthy people who employ his parents fairly regularly have offered to cover his uni costs. Um ...
The golden age seems to be over.
In other news, did you know that Warren Buffet claimed that there a class war going on, that the rich were waging it, and the rich were winning?