Issue No.
45
June 2011
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| Welcome to June’s review of books |
 Tim Black
In both political debates about higher education and the streetfighting of angry students, one issue is notable by its absence: the question of what the academy is for. Indeed, the great irony of the stand-off between the Lib-Con government and its anarchistic critics is that both sides accept that HE is merely a route towards a better job. Politicians argue that because the student will benefit career-wise from HE, it is only right that he should pay for it… while student protesters argue that it’s precisely because they will later make big contributions to the economy that they shouldn’t have to pay for it. At root, both sides reduce higher education to a mere instrument of the economy. In this month’s spiked review of books, HE expert Alison Wolf challenges such instrumentalisation, and asks: whatever happened to the pursuit of knowledge? We also have essays on chavs, on 'animal morality', on the rise and fall of the BNP, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
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