Fee paying students a menace to society?

[brendan]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23769958-21682,00.html

GAVIN Brown declares the Government's abolition of purchased places at universities for local undergraduates as "in the same ideological space as banning Australian citizens from private high schools lest they purchase an advantage". ("Departing don leaves oldest brownstone in good shape", HES, May 21).

His criticism is ill-founded. All fair-minded citizens must see the wisdom of the Government's position. It must be enforced rigorously. Some academically qualified students, denied the ability to pay for education at an Australian university, will try to go abroad to study. They must be denied passports. If by subterfuge they are able to get overseas and obtain a degree, they must be refused re-entry. No doubt others will seek qualifications through the online courses of reputable overseas institutions. Those degrees must not be recognised. And all overseas students who buy their degrees here must leave on graduation because of their unfair advantage.

The community must be made to see that those who try to pay for their own education are a threat to our basic values. They harm themselves, they harm our universities and, with their improperly gained skills, they harm the community. As the Prime Minister has properly insisted, his Government's policies will be based on results, not on ideology.

Bob Wallace
Dover Gardens, South Australia

[ninwa]

wait ... is he being sarcastic? I can't tell ...

[BA22]

He's just being South Australian

I have no problem with Full-fee spots, it's required income for the university to have. It's far too hyperbolic to suugest that these people are dangerous. ENTER score cut offs are determined by demand, not necessarily ability

[brendan]

Yeah he is being sarcastic

[Eriny]

He's being awfully straw-man-y too.

[brendan]

i think he is simply showing the logical consequence of the main rationales for the ban