Should have been Delicious Brownie Report

Very annoyed about/saddened by the Browne Report. Spent 5 min this morning going ARGH CAN I AFFORD PHD ARGH before calming down and realizing at its worst, this is pretty much still just what I'd have to pay in the US, and that I'll have to pursue grants and such aggressively this summer (hopefully one's Uni will be of use in such situations, re: funding-hunting, but alas, Goldsmiths has demonstrated all the administrative capability of a dead seagull*).

Hopefully the LibDems will remember they're vertebrates and this won't go through. Hopefully if it does, it will do it slowly, and I'll have gotten in before the implementation/on the cheaper scheme. And it might not be AS bad as it sounds--but it sounds Not Great.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11598262 --et tu, Business Secretary Vince Cable?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n21/stefan-collini/brownes-gamble
http://www.thelondongraduateschool.co.uk/thoughtpiece/if-you-tolerate-this%E2%80%A6-lord-browne-and-the-privatisation-of-the-humanities/

And I think this is a really bemusing article that goes to show that wherever you are, its Better Across the Pond. I do /not/ think American students and graduates would generally describe or conceive of their university system as attaining better results than the UK system, or that they would say its a Success Story economically, socially or educationally, which other developed countries would do well to emulate--what standards, then, ARE we judging by? Research standards? That's well and good, but it's not really /about/ the business of universities, which is, foremost, providing education.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11520958



* R.I.P. Buttercookie--still feeling it, man.

I hate nothing more than applying for jobs

So: woke up, and:

1. made b_e post (one must /attempt/ to be somewhat on top of one's modly stuffs),
2. answered lj comments and made new!angry!post (I think lj-ing makes me generally happier and more collected, and thus I should potentially stop avoiding anything more involving than checking my f-list for weeks at a time, even if it pretty much just amuses: me.)
3. applied for 15 jobs (last week's batch--still must do another 15 for this week. Katy thinks freelance legal secretary applications? May well do. After all, nothing /else/ is really working.)

Now back to cleaning myself up, tidying the room just enough to work in, eating, reading, and making my way to New Cross for the thesis-writing conference thing.