Low attainers 'poor white boys'

[sasguru]

Ah, but reality is a fairly nebulous concept on here....when doe sthe alter-ego become the real character?

Must take a lot of effort to keep all those plates spinning

When in doubt, just remember that you're Spartacus

[pickle]

honestly, good education has much less to do with resources, and much more to do with parents' aspiration for their children.

But if only clever, hard working people go on to produce clever hard working kids, and there is no state intervention, where will that leave us? With an ever growing underclass of low achieving, stupid, lazy people? Is such a "Liverpudlian-ization" of our working classes not something we should try and avoid?

Perhaps we should neuter them and ship in more Indians. It would be cheaper than investing in decent universal education.

[chicane]

With an ever growing underclass of low achieving, stupid, lazy people?

The tone of your post suggests that this is something that hasn't already happened.

[pickle]

The tone of your post suggests that this is something that hasn't already happened.

Its happening right now. But its a relativley recent phenomenon, IMHO.

[Rantor]

Perhaps we should neuter them and ship in more Indians. It would be cheaper than investing in decent universal education.

Weren't the Swedish gov doing this up until recent times?

Apols to any vikings if this is bollox.....

[Numptycorner]

I'm Sally Anne like

[andy]

I'm Sally Anne like

you mean you look like SA ?

[anally retentive]

But if only clever, hard working people go on to produce clever hard working kids, and there is no state intervention, where will that leave us? With an ever growing underclass of low achieving, stupid, lazy people? Is such a "Liverpudlian-ization" of our working classes not something we should try and avoid?

Perhaps we should neuter them and ship in more Indians. It would be cheaper than investing in decent universal education.

some schools should be run along the lines of military training camps. i honestlt believe that the only thing to break the cycle as described above (which actually isn't too far from the truth) is for some of the little scrotes to endure a few years in a harsh regime, away from the futility of their daily lives. the one thing that real discipline instills after a time is a proper sense of self worth in an environment of respect for others.

at the same time, there's something else that is screwing up our youth. when i got my desmond in 1987 from a crappy collegel of higher education, i was still in the top 7% of my peer group. these days i'd be in the top 40-50%. unless i'm missing something and kids are roughly 7 times more intelligent than my mates and i, this means that degrees have been devalued massively in the past 20 years. therefore there's a whole swaythe of grads expecting good graduate jobs who just won't get them. it also means that employers are raising the entrance bar for positions that 20 years ago would never have been graduate jobs. either way, there's going to be a large number of kids at the top end of the system who are going to be just as disenfranchised as those at the bottom.

if more kids did plumbing & brick-laying instead of gdoing meaningless media studies degrees at bolton "university" then maybe we wouldn't be importing so many latvian tradesmen....!!

[bogeyman]

if more kids did plumbing & brick-laying instead of gdoing meaningless media studies degrees at bolton "university" then maybe we wouldn't be importing so many latvian tradesmen....!!

Unfortunately I think they'd just end up being crap, lazy plumbers and brick layers.

The problem is with the work ethic (or lack thereof) amongst the 'working class' in modern British society.

At least the Latvians et al have some sort of ambition and drive and don't expect to be paid for doing sod all.

[pickle]

when i got my desmond in 1987 from a crappy collegel of higher education, i was still in the top 7% of my peer group. these days i'd be in the top 40-50%. unless i'm missing something and kids are roughly 7 times more intelligent than my mates and i, this means that degrees have been devalued massively in the past 20 years.

No, it means that higher education has become massively more accessible in the past 20 years. Did you really think your 2:2 from a poly put you in the top 7% of the population? In terms of what? I think part of the middle class angst over the spread of higher education is that it does remove one of the main differentiators between the classes (having a degree), thus improving social mobility. Which is a good thing when your only way is up, but can be scary when your only way is down.

On almost any measure of a country’s success, higher education rates are always seen as a positive. There are direct correlations with lower unemployment rates, higher productivity, GDP, etc etc. The answer to places like “Bolton University” isn’t to shut them down and open up bricklaying colleges, it is to continually strive to improve the quality of teaching and range of disciplines on offer.

Onwards and upwards and all that.