(no subject)
Some news in Quebec: the government has long subsidized postsecondary education rather a lot at the state schools, and made the deal so sweet that there aren't really any private schools.
The current government has been clawing the subsidy back via tuition increases. They argue that students must "pay their fair share." So there have been substantial protests by the student bodies. (a) They're young and excitable. (b) They're directly affected. (c) It's incredibly stupid social policy to keep poorer kids from getting some education.
The form of the protests is termed "strikes" which seems an odd choice of words. Graduate students can strike, sure, they are (more or less) employees of their university. Undergrads, though, are pretty much not. It's more of a boycott. But I suppose by calling it a "strike" they can guilt the grad students into joining in, i.e. "not cross the picket lines." Which is precisely what is happening to one friend of mine: she and her colleagues have decided to cancel class.
Speaking of strikes, one interesting memo I found rifling through my granddad's stuff: he wrote to his boss at some point that he'd asked all the heads (blanking on the term) of each group of workers, and they'd all confirmed more or less that they weren't planning on going on strike themselves but would not cross the picket lines if another union did go on strike. I presume that the context was an imminent strike. My grandfather worked in construction at the time; eventually he became president of the company.
The current government has been clawing the subsidy back via tuition increases. They argue that students must "pay their fair share." So there have been substantial protests by the student bodies. (a) They're young and excitable. (b) They're directly affected. (c) It's incredibly stupid social policy to keep poorer kids from getting some education.
The form of the protests is termed "strikes" which seems an odd choice of words. Graduate students can strike, sure, they are (more or less) employees of their university. Undergrads, though, are pretty much not. It's more of a boycott. But I suppose by calling it a "strike" they can guilt the grad students into joining in, i.e. "not cross the picket lines." Which is precisely what is happening to one friend of mine: she and her colleagues have decided to cancel class.
Speaking of strikes, one interesting memo I found rifling through my granddad's stuff: he wrote to his boss at some point that he'd asked all the heads (blanking on the term) of each group of workers, and they'd all confirmed more or less that they weren't planning on going on strike themselves but would not cross the picket lines if another union did go on strike. I presume that the context was an imminent strike. My grandfather worked in construction at the time; eventually he became president of the company.