STRAIGHT TALK
MARK BARNES: Free education? Let’s liberate education from archaic forms
We need to transfer knowledge to the people, instead of expecting them to come and get it from us
We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. Words from the trilogy of songs Another Brick in the Wall from that most extraordinary of progressive rock bands, Pink Floyd, on their 1979 rock opera album, The Wall. Ironic, but not surprising, that this iconic protest song was performed by a group of students at what is now the University of Westminster, London. The song was released 38 years ago in November and it was temporarily banned in SA, which made it so much cooler; banning does that. I was a student at the University of Cape Town at the time. We loved the song, supported the protest and yet we were at university, getting educated. Education costs money, but education creates assets — real, live assets. It is unquestionably one of the most worthwhile of human pursuits, whether you’re teaching or being taught. But yes, somebody has to pay. We’re wrestling with how to pay for education in our country, perhaps even more so than other countries do, because of our e...
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