"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
God help us, this will be Obama's next stunt...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/8192234.stm

Gag. What a ridiculous idea.

But I understand where it comes from... the notion we have today that everyone
"should" have a college degree, even though -- as has always been the case --
relatively few jobs really require all that a traditional college degree gave
you, led to a reduction in college entrance and graducation requirements.
People who once would have gone for, e.g., two-year technical degrees and made
perfectly good electronic technicians, software developers, web programmers,
etc. now go for the "full meal deal" and spend four or five years in
college -- and realistically you don't even have a choice: It's nigh
impossible to get even a sales job with a "technology" company (e.g., Agilent)
these days without a bachelor's degree. We've ended up with a system where
attending college is more a rite of passage with a bit of education tacked on
than a rigorous program for people who want to understand their field far more
in-depth than the bulk of people in the workforce actually require. Hence,
you have people like Lord Mandelson there realizing that... hmm... since
college for many doesn't really matter that much anyway except insofar as your
salary goes, where's the harm in just deciding that what few entrance
requirements remain can be "adjusted" to "benefit" the lower classes? It's
classic social engineering at its finest.

I wonder how elementary schools are funded in England? In the U.S. here it's
primarily by property taxes, which I think does make it very noticeably harder
for schools in poorer neighborhoods to provide the same resources as schools
in wealthier areas.

---Joel