J'Accuse Education Mania.

I read a headline in a newspaper the other day which said ‘Should the school day be longer?’ And today I read that some government minister has said that schools which ‘fail to push bright pupils’ will be ‘exposed.’

A local parent of a teenage girl tells me that 25% of the pupils in her school are on anti-stress medication. And we all know that universities spew out thousands of graduates every year, many of whom end up working as call centre operatives or stacking shelves in supermarkets because there are far too few graduate level jobs available – that’s if they’re lucky enough to get a job at all. And even the concept of ‘graduate level’ is largely manufactured anyway.

The fact should be obvious to anybody with a brain cell that extended higher education is simply unnecessary except in the professions. Degree mania only exists because a combination of greed and the capitalist economy failed to deliver the bright new dawn that was predicted in the 1960’s. It isn’t about education at all, but about getting surplus people off the streets.

So when are these damn politicians going to get off our kids’ backs and let them grow into well balanced adults with a more comprehensive view of what being human is all about?

Oh, and by the way, the new story is now up at the other blog.