International Socialists

Cory Anderson 

Although talk of the 'knowledge economy' has become less fashionable since the dot-com

bubble burst, the reality is that we are still living in an ever more technical world. You might think that those who rule over such a world would be committed to the ideals of education and enlightenment, but you'd be sorely mistaken.

The burden of debt that is growing over society and the working class has reached obscene propor-tions for students in tertiary education with student debt now estimat-ed at more than 9.6 billion dollars. Since 2000, more than 3.4 billion has been borrowed to pay for the cost of rising fees alone.
As fees and loans increase, access to education is being restricted by rising living costs and the decreasing access to student allowances.  For all Labour's boasting about increasing parental income thresholds (the maximum which a student's parents may earn for a student to receive an allowance), the number of students receiving allowances has decreased, sitting at about 37 percent, compared with 86.4 percent in 1992.
The 'user-pays' system of loans and (pitiful) allowances has the effect of pricing disadvantaged and poorer sections of the population - especially workers, Maori and Pacific Islanders - out of tertiary education.  Maori are concentrated in cheaper, short-duration courses, and income inequalities mean that loans are more difficult to pay off.  In 2005 Pacific Islanders had repaid on average only 4 percent of their loans five years after graduating.

 Education in the modern world is an important part of people's lives, and is also important for the economy. In order to participate fully in cultural and economic life people need a certain level of education, and higher education opens up a wider range of opportunities. {mosimage}
Unfortunately, education in capitalist society is driven more by corporate profits rather than the needs and aspirations of ordinary people.
The operation of the profit drive behind the education system has meant that the willingness of governments to provide education has fluctuated since mass education was introduced in New Zealand in 1877.          
This is particularly true of tertiary education. Initially a restricted to a privileged elite, tertiary education expanded massively in the 1960s and 70s as the post-war boom created an increased demand for highly skilled scientists, engineers, technicians, doctors and so on. In order to provide the increasing skill level needed by industry and the public sector, tertiary education was opened up with the introduction of universal bursaries, including living costs grants in 1976.      

The 'user-pays' system of loans and (pitiful) allowances has the effect of pricing disadvantaged and poorer sections of the population - especially workers, Maori and Pacific Islanders - out of tertiary education.

However, the long boom had begun to falter by the mid-1970s. The economy once again became racked by periodic crises, and after a recession in the 1980s a shift in government policy occurred. Means testing was introduced into a new Student and Youth Allowance scheme in 1989, followed by the introduction of fees in 1990. As profit-making slowed, tertiary education, and the high level of technology that accompanied it, began to be jettisoned; and business turned to attacking working class wages and living standards as a way of recovering profits.
However, this doesn't mean the need for a highly skilled workforce has gone away. Quite the opposite - technical expertise is needed now more than ever. As the world economy hangs on the edge of what many predict could be the worst recession since the Great Depression, industry in New Zealand suffers from low levels of productivity caused by its low technical level. The capitalist system has gotten itself into a mess to which it has no solution, and ordinary people suffer as a result.
The solution then must lie outside of capitalism - to reorganise the way society works. The economy must be made to serve human needs and aspirations, rather than a capitalist one for private profit. In education, students must fight for a more humane system orientated towards the needs of people rather than industry, one in which learning may be freely engaged in and education is a right designed to increase people's quality of life. Free tertiary education must be made available to all, with varied courses and a maximum of choice. Restricted and competitive courses must be opened up. A living allowance must be made available to all students to encourage people to study and to ensure access for disadvantaged sections of the population.
In order to achieve this it is necessary to organise politically.  Traditional parties, such as Labour and the Greens, are of no help since they accept the profit system that is at the root of fees, unliveable allowances and restricted entry. When it comes down to it, they are only able to tinker pathetically around the sidelines, always afraid of any fundamental change. Students must join workers in building a socialist party that can really challenge the rule of business elites, and end poverty, profiteering, war and the unfair system of debt, loans and restricted education.