So it turns out Education is for sale

The Tripos is currently set to end by 2012 because of financial constraints, yet another rejig of the social sciences and perhaps a general feeling that all of us studying Education are just a little bit shit. This last reason is why I am pessimistic. If it were all about money or the need to reorganize the PPSIS faculty (I think this is right... it’s changed so many times I’m probably missing a P in there) then the horizon might look brighter. These issues are minor in comparison to the rather insulting claim that those of us who have chosen to study Education are not quite as clever as the rest of the Cambridge student body. So how does the subject overcome this wave of discouragement? Well, it probably won’t. Fast forward to 2012 and “... yeah, I study Social Psychological International Politics with electives in Anthropology, Education and Criminology. I think they call it SSPIPAEC ...” You get the idea.

The ramifications of ending the Tripos go beyond the damaged egos of its students. Social sciences will become even more ridiculously amalgamated, with even less opportunity for specialism. This talk about uniting the social sciences under one faculty and creating a new, independent Psychology faculty speaks volumes for the University’s general attitude to social sciences. While it welcomes with open arms the formation of an independent faculty for the most scientific-sounding social science, it assumes that all the others can be consolidated without any detriment to the depth and breadth of the subjects themselves. If I wanted to study Anthropology, I would want to know that I could in a faculty that doesn’t just offer it as a Part II after two years of compulsory study in other disciplines. This is where I think the University is failing its Social Sciences students. Future applicants looking to study Education will be disappointed to find it has been replaced with a tokenistic Part II option rather than a full, in-depth degree. This might lead them to look elsewhere. It baffles me that the University boasts the best Education degree in England while questioning the prestige of the course.

While I have a bleak outlook on the future of the Tripos, I have not resigned myself to do nothing about it. I’m just unsure about the best course of action. One justification for the course as it is now is that many Education students go on to do PGCEs and the Teach First graduate scheme. So what? Students from lots of other subjects go on to do exactly the same. This reasoning only perpetuates the notion that those of us who study Education do so because we definitely want to be teachers, which isn’t the case. Nobody says to Geographers, “Oh, so you want to draw maps?” It should not be assumed that an Education degree is only worthwhile if the student wants a career in the field. Those of us willing to contest the current decision should be making better arguments for the value of the subject and, more importantly, emphasizing the enthusiasm and ability of the students. Oh, and just to clear things up: we don’t all go to Homerton.

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