(no subject)

[andrewducker]

I don't think university education is for everyone.  It may be possible to make it so, with the right education techniques, but we actually need vastly mpre plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc. than we have at the moment.  Which is why I think this is a good thing:

'No dropping out at 16, every young person either staying on in the sixth form or on a modern apprenticeship or job-related training leading to a good career.

'In effect, we want to make irrelevant the official school leaving age of 16. We want every young person to want to stay in education or training until they are at least 18 or 19, developing their talents to the full.'

from a Labour speech yesterday.

Comments

[autodidactic.livejournal.com]

What, don't you guys have vocational/technical schools? Where do plumbers and electricians and cable installers and nurses and paralegals and run-of-the-mill secretaries learn their trades, over there?

Is there some sort of stigma involved with not going to uni the way it is, over here?

A.

[andrewducker]

Pretty much. Nurses go to university/university-like places.

Plumbers, electricians, etc. seem to just appear out of nowhere. Or _not_ as the case may be, hence the stupidly high prices they can charge...

[dapperscavenger.livejournal.com]

Yep, we have techs, but there is a kind of weird attitude towards them. When I was applying for university, my parents would have been horrified if I'd gone to a tech instead, with all the 'stupid scum'.

*lol* Stupid? The stupid thing is that a vocational qualification would have served me a lot better for my intended career, and as it is I have a useless degree that I spent four years getting.

However, at the time, you got financial help to go to uni, but no financial help to go to a tech. If there were no financial help I wouldn't have gone to uni either.

[nirikina.livejournal.com]

I began A-levels in 6th form but dropped out because I wasn't doing well with them and wasn't doing well at home. I got a crap job and then my mum kicked me out of the house. I lost the crap job and began a YTS apprenticeship thing, working full time but only earning £50 a week. That's why more young people go to uni rather than other routes, because current legislation makes it financially easier.