WORK OR PERISH written by OMOLOLA PAUL-OLALEYE

I have a capitalist mindset..provide a product or service to make profit, let there be no public sector..Let there be no benefits…Let people work if they want to eat..You can say but that’s because I come from a privileged background. So if Uni becomes £7000/year, I am still going. But then again, that’s because I know my parents can afford it, they went to Uni, so why shouldn’t I go) + Uni wasn’t made for everyone. It’s a class thing..Random Thoughts From Business and Society Lecture. 🙂

Part of this ‘capitalist mindset’ probably came to life because of my ‘Nigerian upbringing’ – watching my mother’s business grow, I have watched her fight PHCN, Lagos State Water Corporation….and all the lot. She had to pay PHNC hundreds of thousands to get electricity from a different transformer (still, the generator is running 20 hours out of 24 hours in a day) – lack of power and cost of diesel kills half the SMEs in Nigeria. Next thing, we got borehole. Then we had a regular ‘kole kole’ because the Waste Management people never came to pick up the rubbish..and we had loads of rubbish…So in a way, I have seen that public sector is useless. In Nigeria, you say.

In England, it’s very effective to the point of becoming a bad thing. There’s benefits, Student grants, name it….Let’s jump to the main thing…So Uni fees for ‘Home students’ are going to increase from £3000 to £7000 minimum. My dad still won’t mind £7000 compared to the £ ‘five figures’ he is paying now. UCAS will be scrapped, make the university a ‘market’…sort of. Let unis compete for the best students. The students become the customers – though when you read between the lines of the word ‘customers’..businesses see them as ‘people we exagerrate to, to make a profit’ Yes, everyone paying would mean that the unis have more funds for development.

But as we all know, once the money comes in, the developments never happen! Take the rail companies that were privatized in the UK – they all claimed better improved, faster services..but the UK still has one of the slowest rail services in Western Europe. That’s the ethical issue here but still..Let the unis pay taxes and let the government use taxes to build roads and schools and all.

Why should tax payers fund the lifestyle of stupid lazy people who want to live on benefit? (except those with disabilites) Why should a city worker earning £150k + be taxed 50%? It’s not his fault the McDonald’s employee earns £12k a year..that’s what you get when you get all D grades at GCSE. The city guy has studied, gone to uni, probably has an MBA and is a member of some financial institute. That does not come with D grades at GCSEs. Life is give and take.

To be honest, I hate the fact that everyone can go to uni (some people are not meant to be in uni! look around your lecture theatre and tell me I am lying.). It has devalued the whole point of university education. University was made for aristocrats centuries ago, it has now become a ‘post secondary school mass education’ and the fact that it’s so common means that if you do not go to a reputable institution for your course and come out with top grades, then no job o!. Yes, I hate it because I know my parents can afford it and they went to uni so I have to go. Yes I believe in a stratified society where the lower class, upper class and middle class are very different. I believe in the principle of ‘you must work to eat’, the state should not be responsible for you…

Yes, some people should be given a chance…and that’s why corporate social responsibilty and scholarships exist…but not every dimeji, uche and bala should be in uni. Like I always say ‘Someone has to pack the rich man’s shit’! Everyone cannot be on top but then again, it does not mean you should not strive to move up to a better level.

Every policy or social system has its good and bad sides, but as responsible individuals, we should understand the ethics that surround these systems so that no one is over – exploited in the process.

P.S I do know that it’s easy for me to think like this because I have parents that provide for me.