Let’s not allow another ‘missed generation’

By Jake Morrison

After winning my seat at this year’s local elections I visited my old secondary school. I met with the headteacher to discuss a few things, and he asked me why I chose to be part of the Labour Party. I told him how proud I was of Labour’s achievements nationally, and how proud I was of Liverpool Labour’s achievements in the year before I was elected.

One thing I was really proud of was the mentality of my peers at the school. Friends would say “I am going to University; I WILL be a Teacher/Nurse/Doctor.”

University was a pathway, with the front door accessible to the large majority of pupils who wanted to go through it. Teachers would encourage any pupil to achieve what they needed to achieve to access university, unlike TV shows like Waterloo Road where the teacher would focus on the one pupil who had ‘potential’.

I left 6th form 2 months in to start a career in the National Health Service, where I still work while being a member of Liverpool City Council.

The pupils who have just received their A-Levels are the people I grew up with, the 98% of Liverpool Pupils who gained 5 A*-E Grades at A-Level are the ones I used to share a classroom with. These same pupils are the ones who in Liverpool beat the national average for five GCSEs at grades A*-C in 2009 (along with myself, I must add). This proves that our young people are up to the educational standard to be able to work towards their degrees at university.

In Mid-2009 I collected my GCSE results and signed onto the 6th form course the same day, eagerly wanting the two years to fly by so I could go to university and study paramedic practice. So did my colleagues, who signed on to their respective courses with the aim of gaining a degree to better their chances in their field.

Then in 2010 – after the general election in which these young people were not able to vote – the coalition government announced a rise in fees of up to £9000 per annum, with a standard 3 year course leaving debt of no less than £27,000.

I witnessed first-hand the complete mind change from the same young people I grew up with who were anticipating a great life via university. To add to the assault on young people of this country, the removal of EMA for 16-18 year olds caused more anger and frustration.

I remember before I was ‘involved in politics’, aged around 14/15, visiting Manchester Stadium where Ed Balls was to deliver a talk about Building Schools for the Future and other schemes with some peers from Liverpool Youth Council. I remember Ed recounting a visit to a neighbouring authority who had just completed a new build BSF school. While walking around with the headteacher a young lady addressed the head:

“Is this the man who gave this to us, I didn’t think we were worth it.”

Young people growing up in a disadvantaged background, with a government replacing the portacabins which I was taught in, who built them a new school with state-of-the-art facilities to study in, who experienced ‘Aimhigher’ – a service setup by the Labour government which taught young people they could do what they wanted to do as long as they worked for it – and received EMA to enable them to get to and from study (and buy books/lunch/equipment), are now being left behind.

I worry that next year may see less young people going to University, and with the lack of jobs, they simply end up on Job Seekers Allowance.

Jake Morrison is 18, and is a Labour councillor in Liverpool.