The Public/Private Pantomime
29 June 2011, by Tony Heywood
One of the earliest essay-writing lessons could be summed up as “All generalisations are bad, even this one”. Despite this, the higher education sector persists with generalised portrayals of ‘public’ institutions in the role of hero and ‘private’ institutions as the villain. Non-university providers are stereotyped as small, temporary and shonky, intent on fleecing ‘rich but thick’ students who couldn’t gain a university place, who are taught by second-rate academics. It’s worth taking a closer look at our villain.
