Education and the Masses

Like George Bowling’s delusions about his own worth in Orwell’s Coming Up For Air, I though my university degree would propel me higher in society. George Bowling fought in the First World War as an ordinary soldier, but because of the war’s high death rate he was promptly promoted to officer rank, a position hitherto unthought of. The totality of the war smashed through most of society’s values and traditions and people like George found himself in a position never dreamed of - an officer and a gentleman. He soon adjusted to his new status and thought that after the war society would accept his newly gained status and propel him ever upwards, or at least he would have a comfortable life. He thought that his new status would guarantee that some money would come into his life from somewhere; after all, he had lived for a short time as that rare commodity - a gentleman. He foolishly came to believe that society owed him a living. However, his experience on being demobbed brought him back to reality. After the war society was awash with ex-officers and simply being an ex-army officer did not have the worth George thought it would have. Like George Bowling, I too was seduced into thinking that I had been given access to opportunities previously denied to me by gaining access to university.

Job after job I applied for after graduating, but my hopes and expectation were trimmed with every application, until I finally secured a simple office job with a large company: I inputted numbers into a computer tirelessly. I graduated at a time when universities were literally churning out graduates with the same ease and efficiency, as an IBM factory producing the latest laptop. Though the confusion about the worth of a university education was also lost on employers, which is why employers’ views should be examined critically when they are expressed, of their desire to shape the education system. More than ever it was whom one knew, not what one knows, which facilitated success. The corrupt ‘Old Boy Network’ had been replaced with the trendier sounding word ‘Networking’, which far better gives the illusion that it is a fair and balanced system of advancement.

It was during my second job after graduating and failing to find even the hint of a teaching job that the nature of mass education started to make itself known. History, Politics, Economics and Philosophy or any of the Humanity subjects seem to be fine and acceptable subjects for Oxbridge educated graduates who become leaders in their fields, as these subjects teach one to think, to analyse, to philosophise, to extract and assimilate knowledge and proposed solutions for perceived problems - in short, to lead. However, what of workers, are they expected to use their education and think for themselves? Isn’t mass education, workers being able to think for themselves, supposed to be the driving force for a successful economy? Aren’t the most able people supposed to rise higher in society, with analytical skills being the conerstone of a western education?

The meeting at the bank where I worked was nothing more than a confidence trick and I knew it, so I spoke up and asked pertinent questions at the meeting, after all, I was educated and had worked hard for many years to gain the experience and confidence to ask pertinent questions publicly. Besides, the meeting was led by a senior manager and expert on the new pay scale to be introduced, who had come to the meeting especially. My quesitons got at the heart of the matter succinctly, and he blushed, stammered, and made a vague threat, and his colleagues stepped in to assist like guard dogs waiting in the wings. My final killer-question was left vaguely unanswered and the senior manager lied. The swindle was exposed, though I received no support from my colleagues, who cowed in fear and ignorance. Immediately, after the meeting, I was taken to one side:

Manager: “How dare you ask a senior manager difficult questions! Didn’t you see him struggling? You should have seen him struggling with your questions and stopped immediately. I am very disappointed with you, because this is typical of your bad attitude…..”

There we have it, an employer’s view and reaction in the age of mass education, and it is mass education or rather education for the masses, which has forced me to rethink my view on this subject. For me, mass education was always going to be a counter-weight to the class-biased, almost eugenic tripartite education system in Britain or whatever guise it takes these days, or indeed the very class system itself in Britain, which repeatedly slams a lid firmly on working class development. For me, education for the masses was the perfect vehicle for the development of a class-consciousness and therefore social change, at the risk of sounding like an aging dinosaur. However, it has proved to be a wrong premise for me to assume that once the working class were in universities they would appreciate the opportunity and work hard. One only has to view China to see that mass participation in higher education may not bear the fruits educationalists seek. In Britain, ironically where education for the masses has been steadily growing since the 1970s, the old 1800-century class structure is beginning to reappear, as money relationships are far more influential and are beginning to exert overall control, coupled with the demise of political power. Therefore, there comes a point at which the masses, the very students at university at a time of mass education, must take responsibility for some of society’s failings. The thirst for knowledge and social advancement, that desire for social advancement for the betterment of all, must come from within, not imposed from without. The single pursuit of monetary gain through education is a false aim for society in my view. Education has to be about community building not indiviual advancement.

There seems to be two problems, as I see it, with ever expanding universities. Firstly, class bias or elitist institutions become more acute, thus rendering regular people’s efforts to strive socially upwards futile: a university education is worthless for an unconnected person, when the ladder is pulled up; leaving graduates chasing the same jobs with an ever increasing demand for more and better qualifications - do employers really differentiate between a 2:1 upper second and 2:2 or even a third class degree these days, when so many people have a degree? Secondly, mass education leads to a rise in apathy within the student population, as a crushing mediocrity replaces a greater effort and most students are judged within that context. There also may a third unspoken consequence, that is, graduates who have failed to rise up in society may become more political conscious and seek to change the society that has thwarted their efforts, but this could take effect on both sides of the political spectrum. A disgruntled mass graduate population may see political action as a vehicle for success, which was denied them in the economy. Traditionally in Britain, revolutiionary instincts and knowhow within the chattering class has been bought off with a good job and a comfortable life.

---

---