Are the baby boomers better than our kids?

Are the baby boomers better than our kids?

In the not too distant past, university education was completely free throughout UK. A vast number of people from the baby boomer generation benefited hugely from free university education in the 1970s and 1980s, at times of economic growth and prosperity.

This allowed many of them to attain substantial career achievements that would have otherwise not been possible had they not enjoyed the privilege of free university education. This was particularly true for those amongst them who came from rather disadvantaged and somewhat impoverished backgrounds, allowing them to progressively move up the social mobility ladder.

While a significant percentage of university graduates in those days came from the elite, affluent and middle class parts of society, a sizable percentage still belonged to the working class section. Bright students whose parents were ordinary workers or labourers went on to become successful middle class professionals, occupying many prestigious positions in various fields such as law, medicine, accountancy, journalism and even politics. In those days, life was comparatively much easier for virtually all people. Even poorer working class families could then afford many life accessories that their today's counterparts can't.

In contrast to the previous generation I have just described, the young people of today are facing many challenges that their predecessors never had to endure. The UK economy is currently struggling to recover from the recession that has hit the western world as a consequence of years of irresponsible banking behaviour. As a result, thousands of working and middle class people of low and average earnings have lost their jobs and livelihoods - through no fault of their own - due to widespread redundancies. Worse still, our government has explained to us that the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, and that many more job losses are underway.

Furthermore, the cost of living has risen to an unprecedented level, and competition for jobs has reached a record high. Therefore, young people need to be extremely well qualified in order to compete in today’s increasingly shrinking job market.

As if all of this incessant pressure is not enough, average UK families now have to face the unacceptably high cost of university education for their children. Tuition fees alone have risen to a record £9,000 per year for all universities. The real cost is of course much higher if we include the living and accommodation expenses. Today's bright students of poor and middle-income families, who have achieved good A-level grades will not be able to enrol into the university courses they wish to join - as their baby boomer predecessors once did - simply and sadly because their families are unable to afford to do so.

Forced away from university education, those young people’s hopes and realistic prospects of a better future then diminish considerably. Universities will gradually transform into becoming exclusive clubs, whose membership is only available for children of the rich and elite, allowing them to proceed onto gaining the required qualifications needed to secure jobs that then lead them to promising future careers. This creates a continuously deepening social divide in the community, whereby university admission is secured largely on the basis of financial ability rather than academic performance.

In the long term, this risks damaging the very fabric of our society and creating a major rift between different social classes, which - if allowed to occur - would cause the nation to descend down the steep slippery slope of inter-class resentment, intolerance, hatred, and eventually crime.

For all of this, I believe that university admission should be based on academic merit alone. Students should be able to access any university courses, as long as their A-level grades qualify them to do so, regardless of their financial situation. Therefore, tuition fees should be completely abolished and living expenses should be heavily subsidised. The UK Treasury should make provisions for adequate replacement funding to cover all of those costs. This shall result in a much fairer and diverse university education, with much easier social mobility between classes and better cohesive community relationships.