although it was submitted to the Secretary of State last November. On 11 May the Governors announced that we were to be made reouncant, savine unat mere wa. no work for us in the coming year, as the collece would be closed. on 4 way we met the Trustees, along with the Divisional otticer or A»s our union..
We asked them to withdraw the redundancy notices, pointing out that this was not a genuine redundancy, since it resulted from an arbitrary decision to close the College. There are students waiting for a place, and money in the trust fund. Christopner Cadbury, the chairman or ene Trustees, told us that the College would definitely not re-open this year and that there was a question as to whether it would What about the involvement of the Cadbury family?
The Fircroft Trust was set up in 1809 by George Cadbury; the Board of Governors and the seven Trustees overlap, but the real power is with the Trustees, of whom four are members of the Cadbury family. Over the years the State has gradually been outtine more ano more monev into mne College • today the Trust contributes only £2,000 to a set-up that costs £100,000 a year to run.
But control has remained in the hands of the Trustees - in reality in the hands of the Cadbury family. Their attitude to the students shows the worst aspects of paternal ism. They are virtually saying, It you don t play our way we'll take the ball away.
How did the tutors respond to the DES report?
We were suspicious before it came out because we had got hold of a confidential memo Hom me rancied to the overnors. dated 4 July 1975. In this he advised the Governors to setup an maependent enguly in order to 'confirm the Governors' judge ment mat ine tutors were culpable, as it would provide the moral backing for approoriate action to be taken.
but tink mat tne most important aspect or tnis rebor is its reactonary educational ideology. At one point it says: ne tradev or all ine four tutors is tnar. although they were devoted to Fircroft and the students.... they nevertheless entered into the arena and allowed the dust or batte to boscure then vision.
This is an ivory tower view of education. Teachers are a part of society and have a nant and our to ten tne trun about societv as me see t in tne nose tat in an excnange witn the students a better understanding can be achieved.
The report says that it is wrong for teachers to involve themselves in this kind of collective activity. The clear implication of the report is that in any institution were mere is student trouble and tne teachers do not oosose mem, ine solution? is to sack the staff - this is a threat to all The main role of the proposed Haby-Soisson reform is to adapt education to the technological and economic neeas or rrenen capr talism.
Therefore the reform proposes to cut down the number of teachers and stream pupils into two groups. The more advanced will follow an accelerated syllabus. while the others will be trained to go directly into mausty, and wil provere cheap labour for the bosses.
Profit and necessary competition are the mark of this adaption. The reform wants to put an end to free knowledge, free education.
By granting the schools and universities a limited autonomy which will force them to choose from among a certain number of options. the reform opens the door to programmes directly adapted to local inalso be reflected in the presence of local posses on we university exam boards and une probacion cime which students will eventually have to do in the local factories.
REFORMISTS To this the school and university students have responded with a struggle organised in the tradition of May 68 Against the reformist UNEF-Renouveau, wnich raisely tres to present usell as a union of 'all the students", they have democratically elected strike committees in which all political tendencies and independents are represented. The continuation of the struggle is voted on every two days by mass general meetings of all the students. Motions are presented to these meetings and. discussed French students have recently been fighting proposed Government reforms aimed at tailoring education to the needs of big business and the state. Here we look at their struggles and what we can learn from them.
in national coordinating meetings held proportionately elected by the schools or university mass meetings so tar, eacn or wnien nas clearly stated that the struggle is not a sectoral one to win amendments to the reform, but is aimed against the whole of the reform against capitalist education. Each has clearly stated nat the only way forward is alongside the workers' struggles against the French Government.
had to face not only the intransigence of the Government, but also the betrayal of the reformists. The latter feared that the climate of agitation created by the struggle wole be oosace to me electon ora Union of the Left government in the 1978 elections. The CT and the CFDT union federations refused to organise demonstra tions with the students and excluded them from their May Day contingent. Finally the UNEF called on the students to go back to lectures.
have been the revolutionary teachers of the Ecole Emancipee and the SGEN, who went on strike and adopted the same forms of organisation as the students. They decided only to go back with the students vented by the reformists. However the students have not lost the struggle. On the contrary, they have acquired the necessary experience to carry on the fight and to organise a permanent resistance to capitalist education. every fortnight in different parts of France. ane deerates to mese namon meetnes are There have been five national meetings into operation.
At this point of the struggle, the students The only ones to support the students run student worker unity nas been pre