Changes within the University

Another important factor in the decline of the left, and the one factor that seems to be a real stumbling block is the changing nature of the university itself. The worsening of the economic crisis has placed a greater financial strain on students. As students become forced to become more dependent on their parents two undesirable trends emerge.

First, the independence from parents and their values mentioned earlier as an important factor in the potential for political awareness amongst students, is diminished. Secondly, it is only upper middle class parents who are able to provide this support, so we see a further narrowing of the range of backgrounds of those attending university.

Another closely related factor is the introduction of rigorous internal assessment schemes. This has forced students to become more committed to their courses simply in order to pass them. Consequently those students who could have become involved are kept at their desks, their potential for political work even further destroyed by the cynicism that our mind-crusher system so often produces.