So I just signed up for a student loan. This is purely so that I can complete a
course, which will allegedly enable me to progress in my chosen career. Quite a noble reason for getting oneself into
debt. I suppose that, on balance, there
are worse reasons for getting into debt but this does not make the fact that I
will come out of university owing a big evil bank thousands of pounds any
easier to deal with. The thought of
contributing anything to their already over inflated balance sheets, even if it
is only a pittance, leaves me feeling cold and resentful. Yet, without their “help,” I would have been
unable to complete my course. The
problem is that for all that Universities pretend to be these high minded cathedrals
of learning; they are really nothing but blood sucking, money grabbing
leeches. Sure, they may have been all
altruistic when they were nothing more than a few learned masters teaching
gifted and talented students in rooms above inns but it just isn’t like that
any more. If you really want to prove my
point then feel free to be late with a tuition fee instalment. Have a gander through the myriad of
threatening emails that they send claiming that you will be kicked off your
course and unable to matriculate if you fail to make the coveted payment within
an allotted timescale. The long and
short of this paragraph is that if you want to get anywhere these days, you
will probably need to go on some sort of course and these courses cost
money. Money is in short supply to most
people.
However, there is another way. A way that doesn’t involve begging banks on
bended knees to loan you money. A way
that doesn’t entail you sitting up until stupid o’clock in the morning typing
up an essay whilst high on energy drinks.
There is a down side though. You
have to not mind looking like a complete pillock in front of an entire nation
of brain dead drones. The official term
is reality TV but I prefer to call it the exploitation of the financially
desperate and chronically stupid.
However, reality TV has a much better ring to it so we shall run with it
(that and it is much easier to type).
I will be the first to admit that I have often been
disdainful of such programmes and the kind of people who go on them. I mean, who would want to spend however many
weeks prancing around in a house full of strangers and be filmed in the
process? I never really understood the
mentality. That is, until I found myself
grovelling to a bank in order to be able to BORROW my course fees. The thing is, that if I was financially
better off this would not have been an issue.
I could have just paid off my uni fees in one lump sum. However, like most of the population I am not
rich. Sure, I can afford my bills and my
rent without a struggle. This is more
than can be said for a lot of people.
There are many people who I know of who have to think twice before
putting the heating on. It is literally
a case of “can I afford to eat AND be warm?”
It is a grim state of affairs when you have to choose between eating and
staying warm but that is what a lot of people are calling reality these
days. So I cannot blame those who, upon
seeing a way out, scramble towards it in the hope of finding something better
on the other side. If that means locking
yourself in a house full of other z list wannabes then so be it. Six months of endorsing cheap perfumes and
appearing on day time TV shows has got to be better than serving booze to
twelve year olds in One Stop.
Of course, these people could do it the old fashioned way
and work hard in order to get a good job.
It is perfectly doable, right?
WRONG! As we have already
discussed, the way in to most reasonable jobs nowadays is a university degree
and these do not come cheap. Then there
is the issue of your education before university. In the UK, the top jobs are taken by those
with the privilege of a private school education, which certainly does not come
cheap. Thus, it goes without saying that
in order for a person to succeed in this world they had better be starting from
a relatively good position. By that I
mean that mummy and daddy had better be in a position to pay up for school and
university fees. I know you will all
hate me for saying this because, well, you are still clinging onto the belief
that Britain is a meritocracy whereby anyone with the talent and determination
to succeed can do so. Just look at the
likes of Alan Sugar and Philip Green, you all cry wistfully. Yes, they started from virtually nothing and
are now worth tidy sums. However, they
started off in a different climate. One
in which the business world was less hostile to the fledgling businesses. Amazon had not yet been dreamt up and Tesco
wasn’t the colossal force of misery and exploitation that it is today. Today’s world is different. The big guns like Amazon and Tesco rule and
you may as well quell any notions that your business could ever compete with
them because that just won’t happen.
Traditionally, the business world has been the hope of the
working classes where politics and general pratting about with polo sticks has
been the domain of the upper classes. However, the current economic climate has
stopped a lot of working class people in their tracks. They see that their traditional means of
gaining some semblance of control (for the business community is quite
influential) and autonomy has now been shut off to them, whilst the rich are
still able to do pretty much what they have always done. Namely, doing a bad job of running the
country and blaming those lower down the pecking order for their monumental
screw ups. So this leaves your average working
class person with a conundrum: One Stop or Big Brother? I suppose that the end decision doesn’t
actually matter since either way, you will end up getting mouthfuls of abuse
from an undeserving public whilst being shafted by a huge corporation whose
only use for you is to make them money.
It’s just that one of the options will net you more riches and a brief
sniff of fame (unless that armed robbery you were caught up in happens to be
broadcast on Crimewatch).
Somehow, I am feeling more positive about the loan
debacle....
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