On the Water
NEELS BLOM: Rage, rage against the dying of the varsity light
A NATIONAL Press Club Newsmaker of the Year award has gone to the #FeesMustFall student-led movement, as Business Day reports. This accolade may or may not be celebrated by its perpetrators, but it certainly means the movement got its point across. That point is a little iffy though. First, it has been clear from the start that free public university education will benefit mostly wealthy students and the very poorest students. By far the bigger group, the missing middle, need the most help, but they are not poor enough to qualify for state help and not wealthy enough to pay their own way. That is not the whole #FeesMustFall story though. As the club’s Tanya de Vente-Bijker puts it, it has been a "major game changer in our country" and tertiary education in SA will never be the same. Importantly, it has proven again that public secondary education does not produce students fit for higher education, and it has shown public universities cannot cope with the volume of students and deman...
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