I think I'm probably okay with fees. Even high fees. I've never had to pay any so maybe my point of view a bit abstract but paying for a course of study makes sense. What doesn't make sense is paying for a course of study and then on top of that organizing a bake sale to support the institution offering the course. Undoubtedly I am glossing over a range and variety of economic and political issues, but if educational institutions are relying on ad hoc funding that isn't even competitive enough to be a going business concern in its own right..... I think it means education isn't valued.
But it occurs to me I might be talking out of my backside. I mean, if parents are grubbing about baking cakes and manning stalls, then obviously they're committed to some aspect of these institutions. And if this stuff is some ubiquitous as to be almost an institution in its own right, then it's not just some education institutions that are valued in this: it's all of them.
But screw all that noise because I'm pretty sure if education were valued, it wouldn't be industrialized. It'd be a sophisticated institution with lofty standards and goals and it'd have a poop load more substance than it does.
I used to ask students were they considering postgraduate work because they loved their subject. that was always good for a groan.