ciallkennett said:
^ The Lib Dems are going to have to find that money somewhere. I think they stated where from, but I can't remember where...
Have a look at my post on Page 10 - answered in full!
I thought you had an argument for a second there Ciall
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ciallkennett said:
And Labour have made vast improvements on education from all age ranges since they have been in power. Ok, it may not seem like it, but look back 15 years ago, and the standard of education has dramatically increased and is still continuing to do so. It was Labour who opened up many thousands more Uni places and, ultimately opened up this opportunity for many people who otherwise wouldn't have given a second thought to Uni.
"Standard of education has dramatically increased" - by which yardsticks?
More students pass their GCSEs these days, with higher grades. One of the reasons is that GCSEs are very different now to when they first appeared in 1987. Whether this is good or not is a debate to itself - it's certainly devalued the worth of GCSEs in the workplace.
Complaints from Unis about the abilities of new undergraduates have risen massively - it's an acknowledged problem for recent students following on from A-Levels.
The increase in Uni places is interesting. Labour have certainly delivered their promise for the most part, apart from last year where it started to go wrong - there was actually a decrease in the percentage of people applying to university who then were accepted onto a course, a trend which will probably continue.
Is the rise in Uni places (from about 5% of students to 45%) a good policy? Yes in terms of opportunity, no in terms of broad degree quality, levels of student debt and the value of degrees in the workplace.
Labour have absolutely ****ed-up in schools though. It's been change after change since they got in, never settling on a consistent approach, burdening teachers with absurd levels of bureaucracy inside an ever tightening straight-jacket, turning schools into target-meeting machines and making 11-year old terrified of exams, all while basic literacy levels have dropped. Way to go!