If you’re studying for A Levels and think you can answer our essay question “Has Britain robbed its children?”, enter our competition by1 October 2013 and you could have your essay published online by the New Statesman and IF and win £250 of book vouchers for your school library. Get your skates on though as short-listed and winning essays will be announced in time for university entry interview dates.
Today more than 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training. Those that do go on to higher education will be paying more fees than any previous generation, leaving university with average debts of more than £40,000 each. How times have changed – not so long ago the government of the day paid students to go to university!
Affordable housing, access to education and fairly paid jobs are considered the basics of a well-balanced society, so why are our young people facing such huge barriers to achieving any of these? Have politicians on all sides of the political divide let down the younger generation? Have we as a society become addicted to short-term gain over long-term sustainability? Can the welfare state afford the costs of an ageing population? Have we overspent as a nation? Are voters to blame? Or are the poor prospects for young people due to a combination of all these factors? The Intergenerational Foundation seeks to restore the fairness between generations that has been lost in recent decades, and to offer policy solutions to make this happen.
The Brief
Write a 1,000-1,500 word essay answering the question “Has Britain Robbed Its Children?” Go to www.if.org.uk/essaycompetition for details on how to enter. Terms and conditions apply. You are encouraged to focus on one of the themes outlined in the fact sheets compiled by IF for the competition, which can be found at:
www.if.org.uk/essaycompetition/factsheets.
Good Luck!
To enter send your essay to [email protected] by midnight 1st October 2013.
You will need to head your entry with:
- Your full name
- Date of birth
- School/College attended
- Student email address
- Form Tutor’s name
- Form Tutor’s email address
- School/college name
- School/college postal address (including road, town and county)
- Postcode
- Essay title
- Word count
Don’t Forget to:
- Number your pages
- Type your essay
- Format with double-line spacing
- Provide references as specified in the terms and conditions
- Save a copy for your records
An automatic email confirmation will be sent. Terms and Conditions apply.
