Leanna Byrne | Deputy Editor
As a rule of thumb I am an advocate of free speech. All opinions should be given the freedom to be heard, no matter how ludicrous they are. That said, even if certain opinions are unfounded and ridiculous the danger is that we can take it at face value. Therefore, when we see repulsive articles claiming that student poverty is ‘character building’ perhaps the best thing to do is to highlight how unfounded and unjustified this opinion is.
Yesterday an article was published in The Irish Independent titled: ‘Students need to suck it up and learn that financial woes build character’. The article was shared 401 time on Facebook and 119 twitter-ites have tweeted about it. According to the author, students have it easy. They are kitted with the latest laptops, smartphones and tablets. They walk around in the nicest of clothes. Is there not a few hundred students on a ski trip in France as we speak? The author believes that this handful of examples proves that students lead the life of luxury. In fact, she even goes as far as to caution the readers of taking the plight of the student seriously at all. When referring to the recent phenomenon of students availing of free food boxes the language used insinuates that this is all a big exaggeration.
Despite the fact that many students have voiced their anger about this article the fact is that this opinion is embedded in the hearts and the minds of politicians and journalists alike. Politicians have told us that they sympathise with the struggling student, but then point to another area of society that needs more attention than we do. In other words, I’ll entertain your opinions, but I know you’re just making a mountain out of a molehill. In turn, journalists pour fuel on the fire with radio show presenters depicting students as lazy and uncaring – unless drink deals are involved.
Sensationalising incidents involving drunk or irresponsible students leads to a simplistic stereotype. This stereotype is no longer a mere annoyance to the majority of students that do not fit the criteria, but it has has been internalised in the psyche of the politicians and opinion leaders of this country to our detriment.
In The Irish Independent article the author says that “we don’t have college fees”. A quick look at the registration fee of €2,250 might be a month’s salary for some, but the biggest struggle for another. In addition, looking at the registration fee alone does not take into account all of the other costs associated with third-level education such as books, transport, accommodation, and yes even laptops because journal articles and other texts need to be accessed online. This can amount to €10,500 per year.
These statistics, however, were not sensationalist enough for our Indo author. Instead she runs with: “Like everyone else, students have to cut their cloth to suit their measure. I seriously doubt that students are actually going hungry, or sleeping on the side of the road because of the delay in payment of grants”.
Not once does the author relate to mature students who have returned to education with no money, an abundance of responsibilities and no immediate signs of a grant to support them. Nevertheless, the only student that ever gets attention from the media is the one that lives at home that have parents with vast amounts of disposable income to feed their ‘cushy’ lifestyle.
Journalism should be concerned with the full and fair picture of events and issues. In this case what we see is a narrow and degrading account of the student plight. If you ever wonder why the Union of Students of Ireland is not taken seriously, or why thousands of students are still waiting for their grants you should pull up this article because this is what they really think of us.
