savageparrot

This one could be divisive but it's one of those things that gets right on my tits. Everybody deserves the best education that they can get, that much will never be in dispute. But the way to get the best education for everybody is not to ensure that everyone gets the exact same education. That is just idiotic. Besides 'best' education isn't something fixed. What's best for one person is not necessarily the same as for someone else.

Clearly for everyone to get the same education then the smart kids have to slow down to the speed of the less smart kids because it's clear to anyone with a brain that the less smart kids aren't going to be able to keep up with the quick learners. But all that that means is that instead of having some kids excelling and others struggling you have everyone stuck in the starting blocks. It's nonsensical.

In what other walk of life would it ever seem like a good idea for everyone to go at the speed of the slowest person for the sake of fairness. How is that fair on the fast people?

I understand the principle of what the people that think we should all get the same education are saying and I understand why they say it because on the face of it it does sound unfair to have a two tier system of education but fuck it, in this case it makes sense. Everyone is not born equal some people are not cut out for learning, pretending that they are just means that you have to lower your standards in order to prove it...

'Comprehensive' education is the fastest route to mediocrity that any society has every come up with.

Grammar schools are a good idea. You take the smartest kids and you give them the best education because that's where it will have the most effect. Then you take the less smart kids and you give less good education but you teach them a trade so they'll have a skill and will never have to worry about not getting a job. That way you have both a skilled workforce and a a highly educated group of people ready to go into the essential research and development fields that actually keep us moving forward.#

It's the same with university. Making newer and less demanding courses to try an get everyone to go to university is pointless. All it achieves is £10k worth of debt for the students and a general debasement in the worth of a degree. I have a degree, in History and Politics. It's not worth the paper it's printed on because frankly they hand them out like candy. I know, I did fuck all at university and they still gave me one. It's pointless.

As for the idea of two tier education being unfair I call bullshit. Social mobility is at an all time low right now which means more people are trapped in their social classes (if they even exist anymore). When the grammar schools were around it was at an all time high. If you have to rank people according to something then doing it according to intelligence at least has benefits for society. It makes more sense than what we're are getting to now which is ranking based on wealth which takes us right back to the dark ages in terms of social progress...