Reply to: Syrian toddler Aylan's father drove capsized boat, other passengers say

[darmstadt]

Would you look at this beauty? Seriously I knew folks who'd put this up on their bedroom wall.

Looks just like my fuse box at home

[scooterscot]

Did they put the pictures on FB?

IIRC there's a pic of some of my* creations on some sites somewhere or other.

*"my" being the electronics behind the artistic bit that made it do interesting lighting up kind of stuff. Some of it looked very good.

Would you look at this beauty? Seriously I knew folks who'd put this up on their bedroom wall.

[scooterscot]

More important than learning to read and write?

For someone who did not go to University I am appalled at the advantages that are continually bestowed upon people just because they are intelligent. What about us thickos? We get sent to sh*t schools, taught by sh*t teachers and sent to work to pay taxes just to keep the "entitled" so called "intelligensia".

I am going to set up the political party for "Thickos" what shall we call it?

I'm of the school of thought 'life is what you make it'. Opportunities do not present themselves to those that do not look for them.

[scooterscot]

pity for you many European countries tend to value trade qualifications as much as University ones.

Obviously we are snooty in the UK.

Indeed, which are often paid for by the employer. I was an apprentice electrician myself, paid for by my employer, before deciding this going to uni. As it turned out electrical installation did not excite me the way it did others to the point they were photographing their work.

[meridian]

Attending university is higher education in my book..

You still haven't explained how everyone will have a choice to go to uni but attendance will halve to pay for it. Doesn't add up.

Why should you and your posh mates get to go to uni for free, but tradies and community colleges have to pay?

[DodgyAgent]

Attending university is higher education in my book..

More important than learning to read and write?

For someone who did not go to University I am appalled at the advantages that are continually bestowed upon people just because they are intelligent. What about us thickos? We get sent to sh*t schools, taught by sh*t teachers and sent to work to pay taxes just to keep the "entitled" so called "intelligensia".

I am going to set up the political party for "Thickos" what shall we call it?

[vetran]

Attending university is higher education in my book..

pity for you many European countries tend to value trade qualifications as much as University ones.

Obviously we are snooty in the UK.

[scooterscot]

You're all over the place here. Choice up to the individual, but admission levels half of what they are now? Do you think that half the people in uni now don't want to be there? You can't have it both ways.

You still haven't explained why you think only uni should be free and not any other higher education. Sounds very elitist.

Attending university is higher education in my book..

[vwdan]

But for an accident of birth you could be one of these people? What would you do? Open a recruitment agency?

Pretty sure his birth was an accident - for us, anyway.

[Ticktock]

You can't go to university in a refugee camp especially when you don't know whether you will be there months or years.

They are leaving because they see they have no future as they think they will be in a camp for decades.

Pick one.

You're always very good at definitively stating what other people think or feel without having any way to actually know these details. Of course, you also always seem to directly know the affected people and have first or second-hand experience of any issues.

[meridian]

I'm thinking obtuse. Education is a birth right, not something to be profited from. We're a sad species indeed if we deliberately withhold others from reaching their potential.

The choice should be up to the individual. I'm not angling for full on Montessori. However I'm fairly certain higher education would be fee free were admission levels half of what they are now.

You're all over the place here. Choice up to the individual, but admission levels half of what they are now? Do you think that half the people in uni now don't want to be there? You can't have it both ways.

You still haven't explained why you think only uni should be free and not any other higher education. Sounds very elitist.

[DodgyAgent]

Read my first sentence or is that too hard for you to comprehend?

They are leaving because they see they have no future as they think they will be in a camp for decades.

(Sorry watching a BBC3 thing on girls and coding)

Any idiot can work out what their motivation is but so what?

[vetran]

Typical extrapolation of an unrealistic outcome from a single event. It was (possibly) true for one refugee family therefore it must be true for all refugee families.

It's a classic tactic of political parties and rulers who want to maintain their grip, take a single instance and use it to demonise anyone else vaguely connected to it. It's been used against minorities of all colours and faiths for centuries.

the masses had no problem extrapolating a wave of now obviously false sympathy from one photo.

none degree students have paid for the last 30+ years. The bleating of degree level students about fees is quite amusing.

[scooterscot]

Just uni? Sounds elitist. What about trades? Or community colleges? Diplomas? What if I don't want to go to uni and just want to do a few specialised courses in the development language of my choice? Or an NCP in childcare?

In other words, why are you drawing a line at uni? And why is that line better than "free up to secondary school"?

I'm thinking obtuse. Education is a birth right, not something to be profited from. We're a sad species indeed if we deliberately withhold others from reaching their potential.

The choice should be up to the individual. I'm not angling for full on Montessori. However I'm fairly certain higher education would be fee free were admission levels half of what they are now.

[DaveB]

The family had been living in a Turkish refugee camp for three years so they were not under threat of death. Nothing is ever as seen. It does not make the death of the child any less tragic. It does however raise questions about how deal with the refugee problem.



Syrian toddler Aylan's father drove capsized boat, other passengers say | Reuters

Typical extrapolation of an unrealistic outcome from a single event. It was (possibly) true for one refugee family therefore it must be true for all refugee families.

It's a classic tactic of political parties and rulers who want to maintain their grip, take a single instance and use it to demonise anyone else vaguely connected to it. It's been used against minorities of all colours and faiths for centuries.