ORIGINAL WORK

Student Power

(based on a speech for the Senior Speech Trophy competition)

- from Phoenix 69 [undated - assumed post-October 1969]

Student militancy in Britain is an expanding force, the aims of which are partly represented by the slogan 'Student power' This means, initially, power to change, to work for progress, and then to participate in the control of the situation first, in the higher education system itself, and secondly, in society in general.

Quite apart from its real political significance, the growth in student militancy has provoked an orgy of startled comment and speculation from the mass-media by its dramitic reversal of the stereotype of the British student as a well-ordered, respectful and submissive potential blackleg. Student power challenges the academic structure and, by implication, the social order. Its immediate target is the academic powers4hat-be, but ultimately the political ones. Its conception is that students, constituting the overwhelming mass of manpower' in the educational system, and conscious of its shortcomings, should act as an independent force, taking direct action where necessary and winning positions of influence and control inside the academic framework in order to fight for its transformation. Before advances can be gained , however, it is necessary to understand the faults of the present system.

The system of higher education is hierarchical, reflecting class divisions. Access is restricted to meet only the most urgent needs of a society increasingly dominated by monopoly capitalism, which is concerned to produce specialists on the cheap. This has led to a distortion of the educational process, as many staff and students are becoming aware, to a narrowing on the content of education, to a stress an mass teaching methods and in some subjects, to a rigid structure of courses, reinforced by an equally rigid system of examinations Authoritarian methods of control, although being modified in some institutions, remain widespread.

Again, students, who are essentially no more than people in training for skilled and specialised occupations, are treated as recipients of charity and forced to subsist on an inadequate and means-tested grant. Furthermore, the education dispensed is more than simply an academic or technical training; it is fully in conformity with the needs and demands of this society and aims to indoctrinate certain attitudes and assumptions which have nothing to do with education, but plenty to do with fitting students to be skilled and submissive defenders of the social and political status quo.

It is the contrast of these sordid realities with the official image of academic freedom and 'student privilege' which is becoming apparent to growing numbers of students Student powei challenges this situation, and calls on those at the receiving end to make their voices heard and their strength felt for reforming the system not simply for their own benifit, but to open the doors of higher education to everybody.

Having described briefly the faults of the situation at present, the next logical step is to provide alternative solutions.

All who qualify for a place in an institution of higher education should receive one. Every effort must be made to improve the opportunities of working-class children, and universities and colleges should be expanded to meet this demand This improvement is immediately necessary as in 1968, 20,000 students who qualified for university education were unable to find a place, though some went to colleges of education which have recently expanded, and to colleges of technology. Yet despite this, the Government has heavily cut agreed expenditure essential for new buildings in higher education.

The content of education should be revised to enhance its educational value, rid it of distortions and emphasise the human origins and uses of knowledge. A revision of teaching methods is also required. Criticism is now being levelled at traditional techniques, such as an excessive reliance on the lecture system, and new forms of group discussion, project, research or thesis work, are starting to develop. The staff and students concerned should study the problems and determine the methods best adapted to particular courses, and to the overall need, for discovering the most effective methods of teaching and learning.

The examination system is also sharply criticised by students and others, under which the student is usually assessed only on the results of a single examination taken at the end of the course, consisting mainly of written papers upon which students are classified and which powerfully determines a student's future. I share the view that the main object of assessment should be not so much to place the student in a particular category (first, second etc.) at the end of his course, but to assist that student in making his own assessment of progress made during the course, so that he can consciously inprove his work as a student. Furthermore, the failure of a student should not be seen so much as an individual failing, but as one for which the institution itself bears a responsibility. Such failure should be regarded as a challenge to remedy the situation, rather than taking the easy way out by ejecting those who do not succeed.

Universities and colleges should be run democratically instead of the present situation in which the control is monopolisde by the senior academics and administrators who are so often out of touch with affairs in their own instititions.

Firstly, in order to bring these institutions more closely in contact with the people, much greater representation on governing bodies should be given to popular democratic organisations - trade unions, the co-operative movement, local teacher and professional organisations, the staff and students of the institutions, and representatives of local and regional authorities I believe that such bodies have a greater right to representation than the interests of finance and big businesses, who to-day often dominate the lay governing bodies of universities and technical colleges.

These organisations have important roles to play in the planning and development of higher education as well as in the control of financial matters.

Secondly, the internal organisation of the university or college should be under the control of all who work in it. This includes all teachers whether in senior or junior appointments, students, research workers, technicians and other staff. Details of this change, which is already beginning, should be worked out for each individual institution. Recent dismissals of staff and students at the London School of Economics and elsewhere underline the importance for the establishment of adequate disciplinary procedures agreed by staff and students, to protect them from such arbitrary action.

Students should be regarded as doing a job equivalent to other sections of youth, and must be adequately financed. They should be paid a sum sufficient to prevent families suffering because of their decision to continue full-time education. There seems to be a remarkable contrast between the Latey Committee's view of adult status at eighteen, the Labour Government's intention of introducing votes at eighteen, and the practice by which students are financially tied to their parents until the age of twenty-five. It is extremely important to move from a grants system to a wages system of student maintenance, for without an adequate system of finance, all proposals for reform will be ineffective.

Finally, there can be no doubt that the problem of capitalist education existing in this country is not going to be solved apart from the question of capitalism itself. The attitude among progressive students is that as advances are won through student power and orgamsation, as students mobilise on an expanding scale to protect and promote their legitimate interests, this fact will become increasingly obvious to them. They will recognise that in the long run, the basic issues of education are also political ones. As Lenin put it,

'Our job is to explain to the mass of 'academic' proteste1rs the objective meaning of the conflict, to try and make it consciously political, to multiply tenfold the agitation carried on ... and to direct all this activity in such a way that revolutionary conclusions will be drawn ....

P. Durrans LV1 (i)