The tuition protest was an exercise of student selfishness and entitlement.
This past Thursday, some of downtown Montreal’s busiest streets were clogged with students protesting against increases in their tuition.
Aside from being a total waste of time, as the budget mandating the increases has already been passed, the protest was an example of student selfishness and entitlement.
The protesters were essentially demanding that the rest of Quebec’s population, whose lives are not heavily subsidized by the government, pay so that theirs can be.
People actually attempting to use the streets for their intended purpose, transportation, had to wait until the hoards of “fauxhemians” with their red flags and face-masks passed before they could go home and play with their kids.
There are many ways to attract sympathy, but yelling at people to give you more money, totally inconveniencing them and generally pissing them off, is probably not one of them.
Since you are against blocking traffic, what do you suggest the students do? Just do a little protest and write a couple of letters? The less you obstruct day-to-day society the less people notice and/or care.
Do you know what is “a total waste of time”? Criticizing people that actually care and are motivated.
What if people started protesting the health care user fees? Would you use the same argument that it’s “a total waste of time”, and that it’s an example of “selfishness and entitlement”? No. Trying to get government to subsidize something that benefits society isn’t selfish. And if you don’t think an educated population is of use to society as a whole, why do you think we force people to go to elementary school and high school (for free)?
It would be useful to actually identify the issues instead of just spouting Conservative Party rhetoric (ie: “entitlement”).
Hi James,
First of all, I am not necessarily against blocking traffic. I think that it can be justified, for instance to fix-up some of Montreal’s streets that are in horrible condition. What I am against however, is blocking traffic to protest tuition hikes that I think are totally reasonable. If students in this province want to continue to improve their educational institutions, or even maintain them a their current level of quality, they are going to have to accept that this costs money, and that they are responsible for paying some of that money.
I find it regrettable that you found my blurb a waste of time, as I believe that it expressed a sentiment that is shared by a lot of people, especially outside of the student population. While I would certainly agree that the students who participated in the protest certainly did care and were motivated, I don’t see how simply caring and being motivated justifies what they were arguing for.
Also, I don’t see how the protest was “trying to get (the) government to subsidize somethings that benefits society,” as the government is already subsidizing education. Even after the recent tuition hikes, Quebec students will still be paying some 30 per cent less than students in the rest of the country, who’s own tuition is heavily subsidized anyway.
While I get that you don’t think that I identified the issue at hand, I believe that I clearly did; that of student selfishness and entitlement. While it is unfortunate that you see this as “Conservative Party rhetoric,” I see it as a call for students to recognize that they are the greatest benefactors of the education that they receive, and probably should not complain too much about being asked to pay for a little more of it. To me, this seems less like the rhetoric of any specific political party, and more like the rhetoric of common sense,
Alex Woznica
Staff-Writer
The Concordian
I agree with this almost completely.
Its always interesting to challenge someone who is fervently opposed to tuition increase by asking them why they feel so entitled.
And you’re right, it has been passed already and you’re probably right in that there is really nothing we can do about it, but if we all had that same kind of logic, we would give up with out even trying.
Some are realists, some are idealists, a healthy mix of the two makes for a good society. Sometimes the idealists need a nice dose of reality. Unfortunately being the one to bring this to their attention can make you risk disdain.
Paying more for tuition is going to suck. However across Canada, North America, and the world students pay far more than us and they’re not complaining. It’s going to be a tight squeeze, but we’ll be ok
Hi NorthAmerican90,
Thanks for the positive feed-back. I’m quite happy that some people took the time to contribute their thoughts on this issue, whatever those thoughts might be.
I agree with you that a defeatist mentality can often be a problems, especially among the student population. That being said, in terms of the fight against the tuition hikes, I believe that the organizers of the protest should have picked their battle more carefully, as I don’t see the government budging on the issue.
In the end, I would agree with you that paying more for tuition is going to suck, but that in the end, we’ll be okay. Thanks for you contribution to discussion,
Alex Woznica
Staff-Writer
The Concordian