EMA

Somethings need to be ranted at every time they are brought up, it might get tiresome, but relentless plugging away at things that need changing really is the only method that seems to work.

I have actually contacted my local MP re: EMA in the past. We are buying our youth's education. Thats just morally depressing for me :(

A good student needs more than just the ability to absorb information or even be there to let it wash over them, they have to have a desire to learn.

I see people here saying the money was the only reason they stayed in school, being quite frank, those people may have been better getting out of formal education and doing work elsewhere. There is absolutely nothing wrong with joining the armed forces or taking on an apprenciship scheme.

We dont NEED everyone to do A-Levels, we need a good mix of skills.

Sure education is very important, but if the only reason someone is there is so that they can recieve a reasonable chunk of the countries kitty then thats such a sad state of affairs :(
 
but imo, EMA should only be given to people who are achieving their work to the standards set and are getting on, doing their work.

I agree somewhat but the part about standards set is unfair! Everyone can be punctual and behave in a civilized way but not everyone is born a genius!
I think provided they try hard and put in the effort then that should be enough, penalising someone that has just started doing this in their life is a very poor move.


Right so it's just the people who's parents earn under a certain amount per year that need incentives. Wow that TOTALLY makes sense!!1111one

Significant numbers of kids from wealthy families get far more pocket money, nice expensive clothes, computer games, holidays, etc then kids from poor families do, if only for the fact that poor families simply cannot afford to spoil/treat their kids like this.
So it's fair too say that kids who have parents that don't have a great deal of disposable income are more likely to be enticed with a £30 payment.
 
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Its the kids who don't get nice stuff who want to earn as soon as they can. A lot are enticed at the idea they can work in tescos their whole life and rent a council house "just like their parents did, and they're fine" or go and get an apprenticship or something usually. Lots of the poorer lads go for trades.

Get where i'm going, give them a £30 a week handout they might make something of their life.
 
are you people really that tight! it's supposed to be about giving them a little independence for a start, and also a lot of people actually do neeed this money, i get 30quid a week and so far i've used it to pay for all my enrichment courses at school (ecdl etc)
 
are you people really that tight! it's supposed to be about giving them a little independence for a start, and also a lot of people actually do neeed this money, i get 30quid a week and so far i've used it to pay for all my enrichment courses at school (ecdl etc)
Get a job?
And some people may need it.

But if i was offered it when i was at school i'd take it, i'm sure at 16-17 you won't have the perspective that you'll have in later years.
 
Its nothing to do with being "tight" we live in a country that has a generally capitalist structure but with a few slightly more socialist ideals, the NHS etc.

Children should not be paid cash in hand to learn things. End of story.

These "enrichment" classes should be darned well free, only at university level should education cost anything, or if its for a private accreditation such as a Microsoft certification.

Sure certain children should have their food paid for whilse in school and their uniform if the institution requires it, this should be done by the institution recieving money and then offering the service or product to the student for "free"

Whoever thought giving 16 year olds cash in hand was a good idea has clearly never had any children. I'm only 23 and am not a parent, but i have a clear enough memory of being ~16 to know that I would NOT have spent the £30 a week or whatever on anything other than games, cd's / dvd's / sweets an later on running my car...

WHy should the UK tax payer's money (and the revenue generated using facilities paid for by that money) be given to kids who are already receiving a free education FFS!!

If you dont have the personal drive to stay in school then damn well go and and do something useful elsewhere. Become an entrepreneur, join the armed forces, take on an apprenticeship in a more practically oriented line of work. Its not something society should or even does sniff at. I for one WANT good plumbers to call upon and good well taught electricians who earn damned good money to safely wire things up. My chosen profession (computing et al. ) would not work without core infrastructure workers such as electricians....

I understand when you say the odd one or two might be see it as incentive to stay on for another 2 years as they wouldnt feel like they needed the money right away, but i'll bet 90% of those recieving it also get a decent allowance from their parents and would have normally gone and done a saturday job to make the money for their games and DVD's etc. Of course this is not going to apply to all, and i apologise to those who dont just see a money opportunity and take it.

Its schemes like EMA that undermine the whole concept of productive socialism.
 
If someone is honestly struggling for money and cannot afford to go to college because they need money from a job, then I agree they should get money to allow them to go to college. I think everyone should be equally entitled to education, so if that means we give money to people who cannot afford it (eg. travel costs, loss of earnings from not being able to work full time, etc.) then I'm all for it. What I think is totally wrong is to bribe people to stay in education.

It should absolutely not be spending money, because then it's unfair on the people with parents who earn over the threshold yet do not give them spending money. Also if they are only in education to get free money, they are obviously not going to take their education seriously even if they do show up to all the lessons. If you're not taking it seriously, you might as well not bother because it's not going to make you a more useful member of society.
 
This thread has gone the way it always seems to go.

1. The students not seeing a problem with the scheme, agreeing that the cash for the majority is used wisely, with the very small minority ****ing it up the wall on booze etc, mine goes on my car which helps me get to college therefore I feel Im using it appropriately.

2. Boring old misers who are most likely jealous they didn't get in on the easy cash complaining and ranting about it (not like it will get them anywhere).

Same old :D
 
This thread has gone the way it always seems to go.

1. The students not seeing a problem with the scheme, agreeing that the cash for the majority is used wisely, with the very small minority ****ing it up the wall on booze etc, mine goes on my car which helps me get to college therefore I feel Im using it appropriately.

2. Boring old misers who are most likely jealous they didn't get in on the easy cash complaining and ranting about it (not like it will get them anywhere).

Same old :D


Can i suggest you save a copy of this thread and look back at it in a few years time when you have a bit more life experience under your belt. Not to sound patronising, its suprising how different things will look in 4 or 5 years time. Perhaps then you will see the "misers" point of view.

Clearly this was a government scheme to boost education figures without actually have to do anything other than hand out other peoples cash. Thats what i find so abhorent, rather than enthusing the younger generations regarding learning, they are simply being bought. Its disgusting at a moral level.
 
Get a job?
And some people may need it.

But if i was offered it when i was at school i'd take it, i'm sure at 16-17 you won't have the perspective that you'll have in later years.

It's sometimes not as easy as that for everyone.
A full-time course can be very time consuming if you want to really achieve your best!
And a lot of the time the kids who are eligible for the £30 a week are the ones that really need too put the time and effort in to get the pass.
Just because some people are clever and can sail their full-time course whilst also working part-time doesn't mean everyone can!!

Also don't forget the kids on £30 a week aren't the sort that can afford their own car/bike and a lot of their parents certainly cannot afford to buy them a car/bike like some parents do. So commuting to college can take for some hours each day which also makes getting a part time job very tricky!
 
Can i suggest you save a copy of this thread and look back at it in a few years time when you have a bit more life experience under your belt. Not to sound patronising, its suprising how different things will look in 4 or 5 years time. Perhaps then you will see the "misers" point of view.

Out of curiousity, did you ever recieve EMA?

I feel the trend here is that anyone part of the scheme will see how it helps/helped but those who didn't ever recieve the payments and were at college before the scheme started have nothing but negativity towards it (maybe because they feel they missed out on It so just slate those who recieve it?). Mine goes towards my meals and petrol It has helped greatly having less financial worries is always a nice thing specially when you have 4 A levels under your belt which is incredibly taxing. One less thing to worry about gets the thumbs up for me.
 
I feel the trend here is that anyone part of the scheme will see how it helps/helped but those who didn't ever recieve the payments and were at college before the scheme started have nothing but negativity towards it (maybe because they feel they missed out on It so just slate those who recieve it?). Mine goes towards my meals and petrol It has helped greatly having less financial worries is always a nice thing specially when you have 4 A levels under your belt which is incredibly taxing. One less thing to worry about gets the thumbs up for me.
It seems to me that most people here who get EMA, aren't really being helped by it. They are just spending it on things they like.

Of course I am jealous, I mean who wouldn't be, it's free money:D. But to be fair my parents did give me money to spend, so I guess I probably got the better deal. However I know people who's parents did earn a fair amount but didn't buy things for their kids. Yet there are people who get free spending money with EMA just because their parents don't earn quite as much. And to top it off, there seems to be people who's parents earn under the threshold yet still give them money to spend on top of their EMA.
 
Did you recieve EMA at college? (If you went that is)

I didn't go to collage, being Scottish we don't do all that. You stay in "high school" by law until 4th year aged 16 you can then leave, or stay for 5th and 6th year which i did and now i'm at university.
And no i didn't get it due to my parents earning too much, as i stated in my first ever post in the thread. Even if i had been eligible it wouldn't have swayed my staying on at school, for those that it did you have to wonder if it was only the money and not the want to continue education i will accept that in some cases it is acceptable such as very low income familys.

I had friends that did get it and as i have also said before i was often much worse off than they were, my parents never lavished me with money. At uni i get a sub £600 loan per year (which is due to go up as my dad is retiring) but that gives you some idea as to how means testing can affect someone, it works out at about £57 per month which is less than some kids on EMA are getting to go to school. If i want something i have to get a job and buy it myself.
Why should young people be paid to do something others do for free? I agree with those saying "paying for transport and books" but those saying they spend it on games makes me sick. I don't pay tax for them to buy themselves an xbox.
 
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