Why I, an EU student, will be attending the National Demo
By Rebeca Cruz
To mark International Students' Day, here's a guest blog post from Middlesex student and Law School Voice Leader Rebeca on why she, as an EU student, will be attending the National Demo in central London this Saturday.
1) Because education should not be seen as a commodity.
Once again, the Government wants to introduce new reforms to our education system. Once again, students – the ones primarily affected by these reforms, the ones whose lives are at stake and the ones who will eventually build the future of this country – are not at the heart of these reforms and decisions.
Within the space of 6 years, maintenance grants have been scraped, fees have been increased to £9,000 a year and the whole concept of higher education has been transformed. Education should be an enjoyable space to learn, grow as individuals and develop ourselves, not a commodity or product that we need to purchase in order to succeed in life. A new increase in tuition fees would represent another significant step towards the marketization of our education – after all, who wouldn’t regard their degree as a product, if you are paying up to £12,000 a year for it? – a step taken without students’ approval or consultation.
In my view, standing up against this distorted view of what education should look like is worth marching for.
2) Because education should be a right, not a privilege.
It is worth asking ourselves who will be mostly affected by these new proposed reforms. Perhaps we, as Middlesex students – a University that has agreed not to increase tuition fees for current first and second years – will not be directly affected by them. But what about students from non-privileged backgrounds starting their degrees in 2017? Will they even consider contracting that much debt, or will they give up on their dreams and aspirations?
Again, in my view, standing up for an inclusive education that ALL of us can enjoy is worth marching for.
3) Because EU students who study in this country, or are planning to, should have the chance to do so without feeling unwelcome (even after the Brexit vote)
As a current EU student, I cannot count how many times I have been asked the question ‘what are you going to do now?’ after the EU referendum took place. Many of us have come to the UK to study, have established our lives here and are now going through a period of uncertainty. Are we even welcome to stay in this country anymore?
Luckily, being involved with the NUS and knowing about their work, I know that – at least for a movement that represents 7 million students – we still are.
However, I know that many of us are not so certain about this.
Therefore, in my view, emphasising the NUS’s position about EU students (and international students in general) is worth marching for.
4) Because the quality of our education is at stake.
Speaking from my own experience as a politics student, I can proudly say that I have learnt as much from my colleagues, throughout these 2 and half years at University, as I have from my lecturers.
Having people from everywhere in the world in my class, and from every economic, social and cultural background, has taught me things that I could not have read in books and journal articles. Restricting people’s access to education will eventually mean that classes like mine will cease to exist and the next generation of students will not have an educational experience as rich as mine.
In my view, fighting for a rich, high quality education – where we can benefit from opinions coming from EVERY background – in worth marching for.
5) Finally, because demonstrating is not useless.
Some of you might agree with part of what I have said, or might have your own reasons to be discontent with the Government’s proposed reforms, but might feel like demonstrating is pointless and has no significant impact in political life.
I could not agree less. And instead of trying to prove you wrong, I will leave you with a link to an article on a recent demonstration that took place in Poland and ended up reversing the anti-abortion law that had recently been introduced in the country:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/world/europe/poland-abortion-law-protests.html?_r=0
Therefore, for all these reasons, and many others that I have failed to mention, I will be waking up at 8.30am on Saturday and will be marching for the education system that I believe in. Because fighting for what you believe in is definitely worth marching for.
I hope you will join me on Saturday at 10:30am outside the Quad. You can sign up to let MDXSU know that you are coming by signing up here.
