Art degrees are never wasted...

but they may be about to become a whole lot harder to get. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the government has decided to exclude Art, Music and Drama from the new e-bac examination system due to replace A-levels. When questioned on the radio this morning, the minister in charge seemed to have one main thrust behind his reasoning - well, you've got to draw the line somewhere.

Why?

Why on earth is it not possible to run 7 e-bac's rather than 6, seeing as we're talking about subjects that are already being taught at A level standard nationwide.

This is just another way of making sure that the arts world is the preserve of upper/middle class kids who's parents have the time and money to nurture their talents. It can't even  be argued to make sense from an economic point of view, the arts industry in the country is a massive part of our GDP - and you can call it an industry as it's employs hundreds of thousands of people and generated more money for the economy that the car industry and helps generate income for the service industries more than almost any other part of our economy. This is not about turning children into Shakespearean love-ies starving in garrets, but about showing kids that they can bring aesthetic flare and creativity to all aspects of their lives.

Yes - the talented ones will get through anyway, that's not the point. The point is that art, drama and music teach kids to dream, to explore, to push the boundaries and to strive for more just as much if not more than other subjects; it builds confidence and self awareness like nothing else and it feeds you for a whole life time in ways you'll never even have dreamed of at the time.

To remove them from the 17-18 year old curriculum is a crime, and saying you can take extra GCSE's to compensate is an insult. The coalition government have come up with this scheme and it's not good just voting against them because the labor party are unlikely to do anything about it once it's in place.

If you feel like me, support the campaign here. Remember, it's going to directly affect the lives of regular kids, like mine and yours, like we were at school - who says that social exclusion is not alive and well and is the hidden heart of government policy.