Childish, selfish and ungrateful

Towards the end of the first semester in New Zealand, the National Party released their budget for 2012, with huge cutbacks and reduced spending in many sectors. Who got the most upset over it? Surely it would be the secondary schools, who continue to be under funded in so many departments. No. How about the lower and working class people struggling to survive because of the disastrous tax reforms from two years earlier? Not at all. The most upset group of people were the young University students pursuing their degrees becoming upset that they cannot have their Post Graduate degrees funded for them. Many students rather took to the Auckland streets, childishly blocking off roads, creating too much noise and getting in squabbles with police. It is concerning that so many students are selfishly casting aside the cares of others in the pursuit of themselves. Saying "I help others" won't cut it. Holding needless protests only goes to show just how ungrateful these students are. If only Bill English could have come up with a wittier remark than "they need some Greeks to show them how to do it." http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6985746/Urewera-four-members-join-Budget-protests

Any protest which is led by Sue Bradford should and must be looked at with scathing suspicion. Her rather lame chant of "they say cut back we say fight back" is nothing new for such a vainglorious individual. Being led by her must give the students some false hope New Zealand MP's actually care about the people's voice (which they don't). The way in which they're pulling the protest is childish at best. Who should feel the full effects of their scorn and immaturity? The very people whose tax dollars fund such a wonderful interest free loans. Despite their best efforts to claim these were all done peacefully, video footage suggests otherwise. Here, one can clearly see student hooligans dragging rubbish bins around, stopping the flow of traffic and causing general chaos to traffic flow, not to mention carrying signs and placards full of derogatory language. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/budget-protest-students-call-no-education-cuts-4899789. So what's their solution? Tax the rich more. Socialism to a T. What these childish socialist students don't realise is how angry these students will be in twenty years time when a fair proportion of them will be the rich tax bracket providing equity for interest free student loans.

Where these students are losing out so much is the biggest mystery. Of course, having been wired to be chauvinist like their governing bodies, any attempt to take away their many privileges as a student are met with scorn. The simple reforms which raised such outcry were raising the payback rate from "10 per cent to 12 per cent and cut student allowance entitlements" to 200 weeks of study http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/13840511/auckland-student-protest-ends/.
So, in summary, for up to four years, New Zealand students are allowed to receive a student loan, interest free and from the government, without having to pay back a single cent of interest. The Government has also not reduced the massive subsidies already provided on student's tuition costs, keeping fees relatively low in comparison to the United States, Great Britain and Australia. Oxford University charges £9,000 (NZD$17,766.42) a year for each of their Undergraduate degrees. http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees/information/universityrates/. The University of California Los Angeles requires students to pay USD$14,010.13 (NZD$17,689.19) each year. http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees/gradfee.htm
Sydney University demands a more modest but equally expensive AUD$5,648 (NZD$7,167.79). Many University (or College for the American) students in the United States take out huge loans and Graduate with a plethora of debt. Australia requires an upfront payment for the fees, as does Oxford. Many of the protesters did not pause to reflect just how luck they are. Many University Students around the world struggle just to make it through their Bachelors degree with as little damage as possible to their name, yet they have the audacity to be ungrateful towards a government which provides subsidies and loans for them, removing huge chunks of debt and strained financial difficulties in the future.

"Not good enough", they say. They have the right to do post graduate study, interest free. How about a little recap of where that has led. Thousands upon thousands of well educated students happily helping themselves to this very generous offer and then running off overseas, leaving the burdens of their actions upon those who remain in New Zealand. No apology, no feelings of contrition, not even a thanks. Thank you to those people, for ruining it. Thank you as well for exposing how (like you) ungrateful these students are. Carefully think about a post graduate degree which is very popular. An MBA. Very difficult to complete when in part time employment and almost always done by people who hold full time jobs. Diligent and focused, these people work hard for that title and very few who undertake it fall short. Post graduate studies should be approached in the same way. Rather than constantly expecting hand outs from the Sugar Daddy Government, how about taking some personal responsibility and pursuing post-graduate part time? If that's not achievable, apply for scholarships. Many are available and with the academic performance needed for post graduate studies, these won't be difficult to obtain. Still unsatisfied. Maybe you should wait for the Socialist Party to make it into government.

Students are free to criticise the government all they like about reforms and tax cuts. The hard line of it all shows the students have a brittle foundation to lean on and their arguments have a vitiated foul smell of arrogance. Hopefully soon, they'll learn to appreciate what they have.