Places and Types of power - going to university

Résumé du document

Une synthèse pour un oral de 10m. Le sujet est “Places and types of power - going to university”.
La première sur la discrimination universitaire, qui mènera à la deuxième qui traite de la discrimination dans le monde du travail.

Extraits

[...] Some students may be led to ask themselves : is it worth going to university ? I fand an interesting cartoon, that made me think. One can see on the picture a long line of people who apply for a job : among them are people of color, women, handicapped persons . and other minorities. And, as if by chance, only the valid white male is hired. xxx To avoid such unfair situations at university entrance or at work, some suggest to use positive discrimination. [...]

[...] I chose the theme "Places and types of power" and I will focus on the universities. Before I start with my presentation, I would like to define the word « power ». Power means the capacity to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. Nowadays, one way of achieving power and wealth is to have a succesfull career that begins with a high quality education. As a matter of fact, most of decision-makers and influencers have done brilliant studies at top-ranked universities such as Oxford or Cambridge in the UK, or Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the States. [...]

[...] Many demonstrations by young people took place recently (2010) in London for this very reason. Protesters gathered on the streets under slogans like : „High education not just for the rich" or „my daddy can't pay". They demonstrated because the British government had just decided to increase tuition fees, which is, of course, highly problematic for many students. In English class, we read a text that shows how intense were the debates between members of the Parliament about this question. [...]

[...] xxx In conclusion, I would say that university is a seat of power because it is a way for students to choose freely their future. However, many young people do not access the best universities because of their expansive fees. In fact, as we saw with employement discrimination, this is just one of several examples of inequal rights in our society. Unfortunately there remains a great deal of work in order to build a more just and equal society : not only structures but also attitudes are required to be changed. [...]

[...] I personally find this situation really unfair, because it reduces the social diversity and it increases the separation of classes. I think that the rise of tuition fees is a bad thing. The government closes the door to many students. In contrast, French university is inexpensive, which facilitates access to education for all social classes. This system is, in my eyes, more democratic than in England. xxx Unfortunately, employment discrimination affects as well England as France although it is against the law to discriminate against anyone. [...]