In a fair society, everyone should have an equal chance to succeed in life. To earn money, be healthy and have a roof over your head. There is, of course, no such equality. People with a university or college education live on average about six years longer than people with an MBO education or lower, and they also live longer in good health. That is of course not fair. Why should you live longer, healthy, because you can learn well?
But it could be even more unfair. Because did you really think that everyone with a good set of brains has equal opportunities to reach higher education? To get on the great opportunity train that makes life better, more beautiful, richer and healthier? Of course not. The group that gets it right – the group for which our Prime Minister has been turning, lying, texting and erasing texts for more than ten years – they don’t want to play together, share together. He wants to keep everything to himself. Not only by keeping the tax climate favorable for the rich, but also by raising the barriers for social climbers in education, so that the sons and daughters of rich moms and dads have more opportunities for good education and a better life than the children of less fortunate.
Our education system is simple. Secondary vocational education prepares you for higher professional education (HBO). Pre-university education (VWO) prepares you for scientific education (WO). If you have successfully completed MBO, you are therefore suitable for HBO, if you have passed VWO, you can go to university. In principle, you can study anything, as long as you have the necessary subjects. Simple and honest.
But it doesn’t work that way anymore. Today, many higher education programs no longer have enough space to admit all students, partly because those programs have hired paying foreign students to secure their funding. How do the universities solve this lack of space? By subjecting candidates for a study program to an entrance exam (while their previous education was already their entrance exam), a letter of application and/or a motivation interview.
Guess who has the best chance of successfully passing this procedure? Right. The children of the parents who pay tutoring to pass the entrance exam, who help draft the letter correctly and who make subtle phone calls to the admissions committee. ‘Hey Jacques, how nice, I saw your name on the letter from Liselotte who will come to talk to you about the study tomorrow! Yes, very motivated!’
More is possible with money. There are now 568 recognized private university and higher professional education courses, for which you have to pay a lot. Every university in the Netherlands has those expensive courses that look just a little better on your CV than the ordinary plebs studies that are paid for by the government. 568! Those rich students will have to work hard, but still. A good job and a good life is simply for sale in the Netherlands.