Tory Education Plan: Divide and Conquer

The tories are apparently planning to let school pupils as young as 13 opt out of an academic curricula and focus on developing technical skills instead. The proposal was unveiled by Damian Green, Shadow Education Scretary.

Mr Green declared: "The biggest long term educational handicap this country faces is a lack of technical skills. We fall far behind our competitors in non-degree qualifications, and this is where any sensible government would concentrate - not in increasing the number of graduates.

"Not only would this transform our poor performance on competitiveness, it will enhance the chances in life of those whose abilities are practical rather than academic. These are the children too often left behind in the school system, who are treated much better in other European countries, who adopt the approach we are suggesting."

I find this an apalling proposition and I can't really be bothered to explain why, save to say...

  • how does any specialisation / segregation in school create well-rounded humans, aware not only of what they do know but what they do not know as well?
  • is it appropriate for a parents to fundamentally influence the educational direction (and therefore likely future career plan too) of a child (academic/technical strand) at any age (11plus or 13plus)?
  • business-backed technical schools? wtf? a monsanto agricultural college? a dulux decorating school?

I'm off to a politics lecture now to hear about POWER. Fun.

Posted by Paul at October 16, 2003 02:45 PM | TrackBack
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