Quote:
Originally Posted by Guinness
Yes, she did. She destroyed the industrial backbone of the country to break the unions and then realised that the balance of payments was screwed. Destroying industry meant that there was a disctinct lack of apprenticeships, unemployment in school leavers went through the roof. Being a self confessed design freak, she created what were basically mickey mouse degrees in box and package design, and the result was that we now need power saws to open packets of bacon, and most pieces of furniture come flat packed with non biodegradable polystyrene and mountains of bubble wrap. Over simplified puerile argument perhaps, but my point is she had an agenda and wasn't being altruistic about education for the masses.
But anyway, I thought we were discussing proper sciences, Maths, Science, Engineering and the associated scientific/engineering Technology. Yes, you get bog standard means tested bursaries for them, but the significant bursaries are privately funded and extremely limited. So I stand by my comment of lucky enough, wealthy enough etc...
As for the experience/qualification argument...the apprenticeship system used to work just fine before it was twisted beyond recognition by the previous and now the current government to massage the figures.
As an employer I'd take experience over qualification any day of the week, 'walking the walk over talking the talk'. I think more effort should be made by government to entice employers to invest in education. They should help them to take on a kid, give them tax/national insurance breaks to educate him and, more importantly, allow them to fire him if he isn't cutting the mustard, and not accuse them of bullying if they send him to get a bobbin of Whitworth thread.
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I still have my father's apprenticeship indenture document from the 1920s and thought it advanced the country when apprenticeships were provided free of charge by employers. Since the 1970s I've worked in manufacturing electronic equipment and it was in that decade when an A* graduate was employed - it didn't take long to realise the lad had never touched a component - all his "design experience" was through studying books. Thatcher set up a scheme as you outlined above which as a small company being squeezed by inflation, etc., we took advantage of circa 1981-82 and onwards. We thought this would set us up for when the upturn came, but when the upturn came we found larger companies were poaching the apprentices we'd trained and sent to day release college.
There was also a scheme introduced for those who would normally have lost their dole money if they took on any casual or part time work.
As for destroying "industrialisation" - When unions bring large companies to their knees you'll find foreign buyers moving in to buy the patents which they then produce abroad. Also, I think if you'd seen Esther Rantzen's programmes about shoddy British cars and noticed how many Brits were driving around in foreign imported cars you might vary your opinion slightly.