Upcoming Events

National | Education

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 Tue Dec 24, 2024 15:42 | Will Jones
Some of Britain?s best-selling hybrid cars will be banned from sale after 2030 under a?Net Zero crackdown?proposed by Ministers, including the mild hybrid versions of the Ford Puma, Range Rover Evoque and VW Golf.
The post Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming ?a Fifth of Thos... Tue Dec 24, 2024 13:46 | Will Jones
Experts?have issued an urgent call for lockdown-style social distancing ahead of Christmas Day amid surging flu infections, claiming that a fifth of those infected have no symptoms but can spread it.
The post Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming “a Fifth of Those Infected Have No Symptoms But Can Spread It” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link J.K. Rowling Leads Backlash Against Sturgeon for Claiming There Was No Public Opposition to Gender S... Tue Dec 24, 2024 11:23 | Will Jones
J.K. Rowling has led a feminist backlash against?Nicola Sturgeon?after she was accused of ?rewriting history? over the gender self-ID law controversy by claiming there was no public opposition until "forces muscled in".
The post J.K. Rowling Leads Backlash Against Sturgeon for Claiming There Was No Public Opposition to Gender Self-ID Until “Forces Muscled In” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Science Shock: CO2 is Good for the Planet, Peer-Reviewed Studies Suggest Tue Dec 24, 2024 09:00 | Chris Morrison
Dramatic evidence has been published in a number of recent science papers that CO2 levels are already?'saturated', meaning little or no further warming is to be expected and rising CO2 levels are all beneficial.
The post Science Shock: CO2 is Good for the Planet, Peer-Reviewed Studies Suggest appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Whoever Rules Britain Is Going to Be Unpopular Tue Dec 24, 2024 07:00 | Noah Carl
It isn't so much that the Tories are getting more popular as that Labour is getting less so. Which illustrates a more general predicament for the Tories and any other party that might have aspirations to government.
The post Whoever Rules Britain Is Going to Be Unpopular appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

National - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

FEE block on the USI demo

category national | education | event notice author Thursday November 10, 2011 10:58author by FEE - Free education for everyone Report this post to the editors

Join the USI march & occupation of Molesworth street, Dublin 2

The USI have planned to march on the Dail in opposition to possible hikes in third level fee's. The campaign group Free Education for Everyone (FEE) believes that the USI should go further however & calls for the immediate retraction of increases in the reg fee & cuts to the non-adjacent grant. Education is a right not a privilege
FEE leaflet - print and dis
FEE leaflet - print and dis

The USI have planned to march on the Dail in opposition to possible hikes in third level fee's. The campaign group Free Education for Everyone (FEE) believes that the USI should go further however & calls for the immediate retraction of increases in the reg fee & cuts to the non-adjacent grant. The USI have made clear their plans to occupy Molesworth Street in order to put more pressure on the government through radical meassures. This is to welcomed, however for the action to be successful students must publicise the event and attend in huge numbers. Only through mass mobalization and direct action will the government be forced to take note of students demands. Assemble at the Ambassador theatre, Parnell Street at 12pm

Related Link: http://free-education.info/
author by fee to edpublication date Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:59author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Please change block to bloc. Apologies!

author by Rational Ecologist.publication date Thu Nov 10, 2011 13:21author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If the platform is for free education for all, then I don't think it is one that I will be supporting. Those who can afford to pay to go to third-level education, should have to pay for the privilege. Our Universities have become more and more semi-privatised education production lines. Fees should not have been abolished. We cannot and could never afford to subsidise the wealthy to attend college. Those who can't afford it, should be helped. To say that education should be free to all is hopelessly naive and just serves to maintain the status quo and exclude working-class people form colleges. Going to college is not easy nor should it be, however, there are many who can afford to pay for it. Common sense should prevail.

author by leftypublication date Fri Nov 11, 2011 21:58author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Currently the poor subsidise the rich attending college.
In practice figures show that free fees and the grant scheme have not significantly helped change the imbalance of people attending college from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups vs the wealthy sectors who continue to benefit from free fees.  There are other issues here as well it seems. Maybe to do with social culture, hidden registration costs (stealth fees currently 2k+) and possibly the actual application procedures.

But money is still also an issue.  It seems to me that a compromise is in order here.

There should be a base level under which you pay no fees then above that, a graduated scale and a cutoff point whereby the state no longer  subsidises you either through fees or grants.

Thereby, helping poorer people to attend, whilst not subsidising the rich.  Same principle should apply regarding childrens allowance.

author by Gpublication date Sun Nov 13, 2011 14:27author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If the 'free fees' initiative should be abolished because the 'poor subsidise the rich', isn't the logical extension that free primary & secondary education should also be abolished on the same basis?

College fees exist. At €2,000, they're the second highest  in the EU.

They're not there for equity reasons -  as fees have been increased in recent budgets, the maintenance grant has been cut. It's naive to believe that increasing fees will provide additional funding for third level institutions, or student support schemes. They will be (and currently are) used to reduce public funding. Increases in fees have already coincided with reductions to the core block grant.

Unwittingly, those that support fees on equity grounds are supporting the extension of the neoliberal model which fuels inequality - a model which despises public services, and seeks to reduce public funding by shifting the costs burden onto to individual, in order to maintain low taxes on wealth & profits. This is the same underlying process affecting water charges, the health service & other public services. The application of these neoliberal principles to tertiary education is not the answer to improving equality of access. It's this economic model itself which needs to be opposed.

The reason the 'free fees' initiative has had limited success is because the barriers to education don't suddenly arise on the day a student receives their CAO results, they arise through the cumulative effects of inequality in a multitude of areas from the moment they're born. The child of a 'professional' can expect to get about 92 points more Leaving Certificate points than the child of a 'manual worker'. Attempts to address this at third level are always going to have a limited effect.

Educational disadvantage doesn't exist in a bubble - class still matters. It's only by addressing inequality, both inside and outside of education, that equality of access can be genuinely improved. 

One of the primary methods for achieving this - within capitalism - is through progressive tax reform. The additional public funding gained through taxation could be used to target educational disadvantage at all levels, through funding areas like pre-school education, special needs assistants, retention initiatives, reducing pupil-teacher-ratios, maintenance grants which reflect the cost of living, and the Back to Education Allowance. Additional public funding, based on taxation of those who can afford it, can be used to reduce inequality in areas outside the education sector.

As for the argument that 'we can't afford it' - most companies either don't pay pay corporation tax, or pay an effective rate of between 4-7%, according tho the head of Trinitys School of Business [1]. Companies like Google uses tax avoidance schemes such as 'double Irish' to only pay €5.6 million in corporation tax on a turnover of €10 billion. [2] Taxes on wealth/capital, like CGT & CAT, also remain low.

The other typical argument is that higher taxes would 'damage competitiveness' . Higher tax economies, such as Sweden & Denmark, outperform Ireland in competitiveness rankings, according to the right-wing World Economic Forum. Part of the reason for this is that they use taxation to invest in areas like education, health, & infrastructure.

Shifting the cost burden onto students is not an economic necessity, it's a policy choice.

[1]http://www.tcd.ie/iiis/documents/discussion/abstracts/I...5.php , and another good article on corporation tax can be found at http://www.progressive-economy.ie/2011/04/125-per-cent-....html
[2]http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/google-paid-on....html

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174678195957077

Related Link: http://free-education.info
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy