I’m sure those behind the IPPR think tank and UCU academics union Report which ludicrously suggests graduates bring in £180,000 more than those with A-levels over their working life will be pleased with the profile the BBC affords such speculative trade union driven nonsense. All hail the State.
PUSHING PROPAGANDA
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And the BBC doesn’t even bother getting a quote from someone even a little sceptical of such ‘research’.
Well duh!
Surely the whole point of a degree is to educate students so that they can earn higher wages than those who only have ‘A’ levels?
Education for educashun sake is only for the very well off.
‘research suggests’ is the equivalent of a Shuckman/Black/Harrabin/Watts ‘may’ or ‘could’ when it comes to ‘we do science, we do’… ‘reporting’. And that’s before one gets to the provenance of the source(s).
I notice that they have given up any pretence at context and a world of semantic, agenda pushing guff gets simply obscured in the headline by losing all that is pure, tribal speculation in ‘quotes’ as ‘fact’.
It wasn’t that long ago that they were even claiming that having a degree brought in up to an additional £400,000-£500,000 over a working lifetime! This of course, was utter nonsense, and based upon the highly selective interpretation of data relating, if I remember correctly, to a sample of graduates born in 1951. Needless to say, the prospects that faced such graduates who then comprised but a tiny fraction of the population differed considerably from the massive numbers (and proportion) of graduates coming out of the system today. Our economy has also been eviscerated in the intervening period and the content of many degrees debased to such an extent than many graduates leave a great deal to be desired in terms of literacy.
I’m not so sure that I’ll ever retrieve the earnings that I lost whilst in higher education, and cannot help but feel that large numbers of our young people have in recent years been cheated into paying for the privilege of being enjoyably unemployed for a number of years whilst studying degrees that have done little if anything to improve their life prospects. Our higher education sector is bloated and needs to be downsized, with better real vocational training (not the sort of paper shuffling exercise of the type encountered in worthless NVQs) being put in its stead. Is there any chance of the truth being acknowledged and this happening? I wish.
You may have noted my typo above. I meant of course to write ‘Our economy has also been eviscerated in the intervening period and the content of many degrees debased to such an extent that many graduates leave a great deal to be desired in terms of literacy.’ Bak too skool four mee.
Don’t worry I think we picked that one up old chap! I iz orso bad at speling u get me innit!
My A-Levels in Maths, English and Economics are of a more academic rigorous standard than most arty-farty degrees I’d wager. My brother did an Art history degree but his mental arithmetic is awful and his ability to read and understand basic statistics and data is terrible. Now, I’m not knocking art or the fascinating history of art, drama, music etc etc, all of which I love and are essential and of high value to humanity, BUT we, the state, SHOULD not be funding the mass consumer degree or promoting this spoiled left-wing sense of entitlement which the BBC seems to align itself with and which instils in posh middle classes this lazy work ethic of, ‘I’m not working in Poundland as I have a degree in Restoration drama poetry…’ etc.
Anyone wishing to go to university SHOULD have a maths and English A-Level at grade C at least, in my opinion, in addition to their specialist subject; otherwise this lack of numerical and literary ability will continue to dilute the standard of academia.
Musically speaking, and I am an amateur guitarist who plays in pubs a couple of times a month, I think it’s better to go it alone in the arts than study for an expensive degree – gig, set up your own business selling paintings and form a drama society. Much more enterprising than a Micky Mouse degree from Darting College of Arts!
Well said. My music education is useless these days unless I go into teaching. No amount of fancy paper will make me good enough to pass an audition. Nobody in any orchestra earns more because they have a degree. And except for a handful of top schools, the chances of a music performance graduate getting into one of the few high-paying orchestras is about the same odds for people trying to make it in pro sports.
Totally agree David, it’s a shame but sadly true. The world will always need talented musicians, poets and artists BUT the left-wing have degraded this individual talent by the inclusion for all nonsense where ‘all must win prizes’ so to speak. It stems from our lefty school system, where teachers can’t now say that one child is brighter or more academically able than the next; each child must achieve equally even if this means dumbing down standards.
Hundreds of years ago artists and artisans were uniquely individual with a real talent but this is no longer the case what with the superficial, mass consumerism celebrity culture that is turning the West into brainwashed robots.
As the Dalai Lama wisely said:
‘It’s a time when there is much in the window, but little in the room.’
I knew a chap that did Art history at a Poly when the they really were Polys. We used to laugh at him for choosing such a twatish subject.
Not any more.
He left his degree to work in an Art Gallery and is now loaded; fast cars and faster women for the last 30 years! Enough tax paid to make Gordon cream himself.
So sometimes Art History is not so stupid after all.
Pah, I think it’s just my brother! Although, I wouldn’t say that to his face 🙂
To be honest, I think if you’re bright and work hard, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.
Is there any genuine figures for unemployment by university faculty? When hi-tech stutters it stands to reason that the group most effected are the maths, science, engineering crowd. Agricultural workers (and that goes for Agricultural engineers) suffer as small, labour-intensive farms are closed in favour of large-scale, automated enterprises and cheaper imports force even those under. Is there a more practical, no frills profession than farming?
A quick Google finds most unemployment figures are a percentage of the total workforce and while figures for youth and women are around it is very hard to find unemployment by profession. So sneering at Arts graduates seems to me more snobbism than backed by any facts.
UCU academics union would say this they have a vested interest in this. They wants as many customers/students as possible for their degrees to keep them in work. About 90% of people are wasting there time at university. Getting a 2:2 from an ex-poly in Greek art isn’t going to get you anywhere accept working in a mcjob or the dole queue. The University sector is way too big and most of academics live in ivory towers and have never done a real days work in their life. About half I have met seem to have aspergers syndrome. With people like this educating students no wonder British society is going down the toilet.
I wonder if it’s more than just a union-driven thing, but also the kind of neo-Marxist dream of equality of outcome for all. In other words, these people believe that if everyone has a college degree, the working classes will be elevated. Sheer fantasy, but I believe it’s the mindset behind all the “free university education for all” crowd.
No. If there was some sort of ideology behind it it would be almost acceptable as a point of view, if not policy.
Sadly what it is about is reducing youth unemployment, a stick the Tories were soundly beaten with in the ’80’s. BLiar wanted 50% of da yoot to be in further education so that the Tories couldn’t reciprocate.
Didn’t work of course and caused untold damage in the process. But that’s socialism for you …
Why would ideology make it more acceptable as a point of view?
Well, not really, but it is a forgiveable sin to be wrong but mean well whereas to deliberately fuck up people lives just so the stats look good …
Incidently, at the local Comp the percentage of kids doing ‘A’ levels is around 90%. When I was a kid the percentage of kids doing ‘A’ levels was around 10%.
Tells it’s own story really.
Some people are winners in life and some people are losers. The winners in life tend to be conservative with a small ‘c’ . The losers are left-wing and jealous of their success they will never have and used socialism to try destroy it. Self-loathing and jealously and being a losers is what a lefty/socialist/cultural marxist etc is
David, you’ve hit the nail firmly on the head; it is yet another area where the left are destroying the fabric of society. This equality for all nonsense where there is now no such thing as one person being more intellectually able than another will have serious ramifications for society over the next twenty years. Some of the horror stories I hear from teacher friends about the cancerous growth of political correctness in schools is frightening. The explosion in the labeling of children with specific learning difficulties is shocking and is a cover up by Marxists and lefties aimed at hiding poor teaching and parenting, both of which are indicators of a indolent and indulgent left wing society; there is now no such thing as children being badly behaved or being a slow learner – instead we have to use terms such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, discalculia, oppositional defiance disorder and so on. It’s a nonsense to suggest that these neuro-developmental disorders don’t correspond with intellectual capacity (as so many ed. psychologists and ed. academics do). They are a smokescreen for a failing liberal education system, in my humble opinion.
I had the good fortune to have a good job and career in computer programming, so when I went to night school for my degree I could follow my interest. I got my B.A. in Political Science and History, which qualified me to sell insurance or be a waiter. It’s fine to want your degree in Womens Studies or Political Science but you shouldn’t be crying because no one wants to hire you for anything productive. Some degrees prepare you for careers and some are fun four year hobbies while your growing up. You pick it
well said!
The problem with useless degrees is the vast Third Sector of charidees and campaign organisations that employ them as activists and campaigners, providing the illusion of a proper job, which isnt one. Nothing grounded in economic reality, only one funded by guilty hedgefund couples, Norwegian Peace Foundations, quaker legacies, EU and Government fraudsters like Overseas Development and Climate Change.
You mean like becoming the climate change expert at the bBC?
You mean like any number of jobs in the service sector of the UK economy? There is no guarantee that so called useful degrees will produce work in that field or that useless degrees will not. Perhaps the problem is not the degree but the person receiving it?
Are these not real jobs?
wholesale and retail trade
financial services
environmental consultancies
real estate, renting and business services
health and social work
education and training
other social and personal services
public administration and defence
hotels and restaurants
leisure, travel and tourism
… and at the risk of exciting the scorn of Biased-BBC journalists and writers.
“environmental consultancies”
Err no.
The service sector I have no problem with. Leisure travel and tourism is part of the real economy. But not that part of Public Administration like the Department for International Development, DiFD, self-serving “civil servants” who give away our wealth on a faux- attempt to solve the rests of the world’s problems. Traveling the globe at our expense. Parasites.
Let’s not have a foreign office then, all they do is travel the world, supporting British interests, helping out stranded Brits. Bastards. They give some of our wealth, a tiny percentage, to help the poorest in the world. Of course there are issues with corruption, but they can be worked out in time. People shouldn’t have to suffer because of the circumstances of their birth. Don’t be so selfish.