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Next parents evening, in a couple of weeks, when Mr & Mrs Smith say to me, in all sincerity and with the kid at the centre of their thoughts, that they don't want their child starting off in life owing £50,000 I just tell them that they are just ignorant f**kwits who have no idea and are really trying to ruin their kids life chances.

One does ones best, but changing ingrained mindsets isn't easy. We understand the benefits but many, very many, don't. I have a very, very capable student, whose parents are utterly insistent that their boy should be getting an apprenticeship and earning and not going to uni. They don't see the point. I spent 30mins explaining why he should. It's a typical mindset for many and those who want their kids to go, the 1st thing they mention, is the debt.

As I said, you clearly have plenty of experience of explaining it to parents to see it as massive debt. As for the kids not listening to their parents, utter w**k, of course they do. We all do as we grow up. My kids, young as they are, are already under no illusions of the debt they will incur and that it's "normal" but my wife and I are graduates so see the benefit. Working class parents earning well below the national average, simply put, do not.

I agree, I thought it a great idea.

The north. And it's not £40k of debt, it's much more than that. Do some research.

Yes I paid one & as I teach in FE in a very working class city and spent 3hrs at parents evening on Wednesday attempting to convince parents that their son/daughter should be looking at going to uni I reckon I'm better placed than most to know exactly how it's perceived.

& you clearly have plenty of experience explaining it to working class parents who see their kids getting debts bigger than mortgages.

You really do have no idea.

I was at an FE/HE thinktank thingy in December where the is was suggested that the S & M elements should be free for those achieving a 2:1 or higher who were prepared to commit to a minimum for 3 years teaching in the state sector. ITT would also be covered. Radical but would solve some serious issues that schools and colleges are facing.

How many working class 16-19yo kids do you know who are being asked to go into what they perceive as a massive debt? Often these kids would be the first from their families to go to uni, so this sort if debt isn't seen as "normal".

I think most are now. Mine is.

Changed mine 4 years ago. The difference was instant and by the end of next winter it will have paid for itself.

The biggest change we've seen is the amount of students now opting for living at home and commuting to uni to cut costs. Cheaper to catch the train to B'ham/Man/L'pool/Notts for Russell group unis or Derby, Staffs, Keele, John Moore or any other of the local unis than it is paying for accom, food etc. In most cases, parents are stumping up for train season tickets. I reckon the amount of students staying at home has risen from about 30% to around 60%.

Morgan & Clyne will go. I don't think anything the club could offer will change that. JR is a strange one due to the injury. Vic will be kept for another year. He's the "must not sell" IMHO.

Really?

Nah, it's not Griffo. It's certainly someone we know as he knows I'm a teacher (I'm not, I'm a laadeedaa lecturer) and that I often refer to friends as oppos (RN term). They are also nuts.

It is 19C and he's still mental. This will be fun.

Good to see you're still as mentally unstable as ever.

Cheers 19C. Still on the meds and stalking Tiss?

Did you learn nothing from being in L1 you utter c**t.

I've stopped paying for Sky Sports and I get BT for free. They start charging for that it goes as well. Refuse to pay obscene prices so average players, with IQs lower than some things I've flushed, get obscene wages.

Jog on.

So how does this Sports Nation thingy work. Just go to he website, subscribe & the streams appear?

Me too.

Like many others I spent years going to Div1/PL away games never expecting to win. Now I go never expecting to lose.