UK: New diploma ‘may leave youths fit for nothing but cheap labour’

The Times ^ | 4/9/2007 | Alexandra Blair

[Oberon]

I can remember my high school guidance counselor trying to bully me into all sorts of classes I didn’t want to take or, in retrospect, particularly need...

Then again, if he was so smart, why was he working as a guidance counselor?

[Lizavetta]

Colleges don’t seem to be very demanding.

When everyone has a right to college, the standards must drop to accommodate those that show up and have no business being there.

That classes such as remedial English and remedial math EVEN EXIST on college campuses today says it all.

[surely_you_jest]

the reforms effectively branded some pupils impossible to educate and condemned them to low-paid jobs

Some pupils are impossible to educate and are, in fact, condemned to low paying jobs.

Others are not interested in academic pursuits, but could excel in skilled and semiskilled trades, and could lead successful, productive lives. But they are frequently deprived of that opportunity due to the mistaken notion that everyone should go to college, thus setting these kids up for failure.

[thulldud]

Then again, if he was so smart, why was he working as a guidance counselor?

"Never trust a skinny cook."

[Oberon]

I've been trying to explain to my stubbornly blue-collar nephew that the biggest determining factor in ANY enterprise, including one's career, is determination. His mom has been feeding him the line that he's probably not smart enough for college.

I tell him that he doesn't need college to be a success, but that a) he is in fact smart enough if he wants to go, and b) smarts aren't the limiting factor anyway. History is littered with brilliant failures.

I don't mind him being "stubbornly blue-collar," but I won't have him thinking that destiny has limited his options to that path only.

[Vicomte13]

“’Texting is making it worse. We’re getting printed letters with the letter “U” standing for “you.” And this kid wants to be hired in a communications position!’...”

It’s the wave of the future. There is no good reason to spell “you” y-o-u. “U” works nicely, is shorter, and is very effective in electronic communications. So, what’s the problem with it, exactly?

As to this:

“Though the site’s commentary pokes fun at applicants, Killian insists that ridicule is not really the point of the compilation.”

Killian is a liar.
The point of the site is ridicule.

[CarrotAndStick]

U do hav a point ther. howevR, som ppl R annoyed by DIS lingo. It iz gr8 dat U lik it, bt U must aLow 4 a d-ferens of opinion, dun U tink?

:^)

[Vicomte13]

Sure.

“U”, though, sounds like “you”. It’s like “donut” versus “doughnut”, or “thruway” versus “through-way”.

It’s different from X-mas, in the sense that “X” doesn’t sound like “krist”, but that is well known.

hav and ther are fair points.
“DIS” and “dat”, though, don’t work, because “d” doesn’t sound like “th”. Similarly “bt” sounds like “bit”, not “but”, and “d-ferens” doesn’t work; difrentz does, but it’s not materially shorter than difference. Don’t is about as short as you can get; “dun” lacks the “t”, and “tink” lacks the “th”.

So, it iz sirtnly posibl to rite in shorthand, but the wordz need to sownd rite wen U do.

[CarrotAndStick]

Hey! I just used this:

http://www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl

[CDHart]

Yes. But that's another thing that seems to be out of date.

Carolyn

[Vicomte13]

weL, Land o Goshen! wot wiL dey tink of NXT?

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Awkward, unruly teenagers would be asked to decide, aged only 13, what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, he added, asking: “What if they want to be hairdressers at 13 but not at 16?”

Oh the humanity! Surely the same answer should apply at both 13 and 16. Filthy rich (and of course a humatarian, like Bono).

[sarasmom]

We used to have such usefull courses in public schools, grades 9-12.
I myself took woodworking and graphic arts.
Woodshop proved the math that I had been taught was needed in every aspect of life. It also taught me respect for tools and machines, and patience in performing boring tasks (sanding) was worth the effort for a finished product.
Back then, graphic arts was print shop.
That’s where I learned how important it was to pay close attention to very small details, or risk ruining large projects that other people, who had already done their portion of work to the best of their abilities, depended on me to finish.
No, it wasn’t Vo-Tech.
But I wasn’t thirteen.
And thank goodness, I wasn’t born or raised in a socialist country, like the UK.

[AD from SpringBay]

But they will be easy to manage - which is what Public Education is all about - producing easily managed, albiet slow and dull, adults who like to buy things.

[bruinbirdman]

In California, the HS diploma gets you into Junior College. A JC diploma (AA) gets you into state college. If you have the grades to stay in school, you can go for four years.

To go straight from HS to a state college or university requires meeting several requirements including SAT, GPA, and class standing.

yitbos