The left has long fought, in many ways, for the downgrading of universities. Perhaps the most characteristic method is occupations and the obstruction of classes and laboratories. But there are other methods too. Two examples are enough.

First, the left fights so that illiterate students enter universities. Until this year, students were admitted to universities even after writing grades of 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the nationwide examinations. And they were many. Thousands of illiterate students entered, with the result that the level of studies fell and many were unable to graduate.

This disgrace is being corrected by the law that was passed. According to the law, university schools and departments set the minimum admission base. But SYRIZA does not like this, because it wants illiterate students to enter universities.

That is why Mr Tsipras submitted a current question to the prime minister on the subject: «The urgent need not to implement the changes to the university admission system». In developing the question, he states, among other things:

«Government policy to limit the number of students admitted to public universities will undoubtedly bring a significant increase in the clientele of private colleges for those who can meet tuition fees, while at the same time causing a rapid increase in educational inequalities.

With the establishment of the minimum admission base, it is expected that this year 20,000 to 30,000 candidates will remain outside universities compared with last year, and that thousands of empty places will be created in regional universities, which are expected to face administrative and financial deadlock».

Of course, the government is not limiting the number of university entrants. If it acted rationally, it should certainly limit the number of entrants, since almost all high school graduates enter universities. Has Greece not become full of graduates of every specialty who work as delivery drivers?

As for the minimum admission base at universities, it should have been established many years ago, because illiterate students are admitted to universities and then cannot graduate.

Second, the left fights the connection between business research and universities. For fifty years, since the years after the restoration of democracy, the left has fought the connection of universities with the labour market.

The left is frightened by scarecrows. Parenthetically, a scarecrow is an imitation, an idol that farmers place in fields to protect their crops from birds and animals. In addition, as guardian of the communist-statist ideology, the left does not allow public universities to cooperate with private capitalist companies, because, it says, they drink the blood of the people and so on.

It does not care whether the state has no money for research. It cares that private companies should not give money to universities for research, because companies profit in that way. Yes, companies profit, but universities also profit. Society also profits from research. Everyone gains. The left cannot understand this simple point, and that is why it fights the connection between business and universities.

Throughout the developed world there is a connection between knowledge, research and business. Throughout the world, except Greece, because that is what the left commands here.

The remarkable thing is that the left then demands explanations for why there is no development. Indeed, after some years, when it overcomes its own rigidities, it again demands credit, saying the unforgettable phrase: «We said so all along».

In general, the left «fights». In this case, it fights so that illiterate students enter universities. Conflict is in its DNA. It cannot exist without conflict. And because life needs consensus more than conflict, the left will inevitably disappear.

The left proves to be backward and anachronistic. It cannot adapt to social, political and economic developments. It keeps society captive in many areas, including education. Instead of adapting to reality, it tries to adapt reality to its rusted ideology. That is its drama, because reality not only does not fit inside ideologies; it surpasses them.

Pavlos Marantos

marantosp@gmail.com