Oral Anglais Seats and Forms of Power

THEME : Going to university What selection for higher education ?

I’m going to talk about the notion Seats and forms of power.

To begin with, I’d like to give a definition of the notion. To me, « Places » can be countries and states. It can also be important buildings or institutions that represent a certain form of power.Then, « forms of power » involves a form of control on somebody or something. It is the fact that someone or something can influence a way of thinking or acting. In the UK and the US, universities are that kind of places and they also have a kind of power. Most students go there after graduating. But what is the selection for higher education ?

First, I’m going to talk about the aim of higher education. Then, we will discuss about the cost of unis and finally how the families cope with it.

First of all, high school students choose to pursue their education for many reasons. Thanks to document one, where you can see on a picture students standing or sitting in front of Harvard University, we can say that students decide to go to college in order to have a good degree and, thereafter have a good-well-paid job. They can also apply for them to experience the student’s life : living far from their family, get to know new people and learn to be independent. They may also be able to discover new culture. University is a palce where you can build oneself.

Then, it is expensive to study at College. The tuition fees are very high. It is a real issue because students who come from a low income family can’t pay their studies without having debts, even more if these families are american. The average cost of uni in the US is 45 000 $ and in England 22 000 £. And it keeps increasing. This can deter them from wanting to go to university. It also leads to their discontent. There is a debate as mentioned in document 3 about whether or not uni should be free. People FOR the tuition fees say that they are necessary to reduce the deficit of the country and that grands will be given to poorer students. People AGAINST them say that it is too dear for broke people to enrol at college and that money should’nt have an impact on your studies. According to document two, there are lots of student demonstrations protesting over university fees, whether in England or the US. Indeed, this document shows that the english government wants to remove the cap and raise the cost of tuition fees.

Finally, even though tuition fees are expensive, the families have to cope with it. There are several solution for the students to finance their studies. First, they can ask their parents to help them if they have enough money. Then, they can apply for a scholarship. But you must be very good at school or at sport. Or they can ask for a loan that they will have to pay back when they have finished their education. For instance, document 4 which is a report shows that the students interviewed will owe between 25 000 and 65 000 $ It could be hard to understand why people would accept to have debts for 15 years and more, but they just are used to it. Lastly, they can have a part-time job, but it might be quickly exhausting long term.

To conclude, even if university is a seat of power that gives strength to the students and gives the opportunity to choose freely their studies and their future

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