EDUCATION policy now amounts to a betrayal of young people.
For years the Governmentfed them the line that Britain needed ever increasing numbers of university graduates to meet the demands of a competitive new global market. In return for piling up massive debts they were promised well- paid, rewarding jobs that would reflect their qualifications.
But economic reality has dash ed such hope. The remorse less expansion in the number of university graduates over the last decade has not been matched by a commen surate growth in the number of graduate jobs - and that before the problem was compounded by storms of recession sweeping through the economy.
It was in 1999 that Tony Blair formally declared that the Government’s aim was for 50 per cent of all young people to go to university, But in many respects it has turned into a typically socialist measure that represents the worst of all worlds: subsidy and exploitation.
To meet the Government’s 50 per cent target, universities and colleges have undergone phenomenal expansion. The system now costs more than £20billion but the growth in quantity has been met by a decline in quality.
As one recent student with debts of £16,000 put it bitterly:
“All the companies I applied for didn’t even look at my degree grade but rather my experience. I despair at the money and time spent on my degree when it has got me absolutely nowhere." [snip]
A recent survey found that 53 per cent of employers have difficulty in finding applicants with the right skills for theirvacancies. That is why we have ended up in the absurd situation of having to import large numbers of skilled migrants, despite the unprecedented fortune lavished on tertiary education.
Only in the madhouse created by government would we have mass immigration combined with mass studentships. Instead of pursuing its fatuous 50 per cent target the Government would have done far better to concentrate on improving training and apprenticeships...
[Anyone familiar with our coming 'trades' situation (with legions of plumbers, elections etc. retiring and very few trained to replace them) knows, we're but a few years behind a parallel 'higher-education' boondoggle. Sure we need sufficient education to let America work - but for a vast majority of our jobs it's not required and we're making a mistake by suggesting it is.
Our continuing push to increase college education is good for the education industry far more than any other sector.]
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