Tuesday 18 November 2008

Degress For All Responsible for the Gross Levels of Incompetence in Government and Business

In recent discussions on BBC Radio 4 on the topic of current higher education and Blair's vision that 50% would go through higher education, intellectual capacity was not mentioned.

Previously, degrees were synonymous with, and only for those with the highest intellect, and therefore those who went on with a degree into a profession or business were intellectually equipped to hold important responsible posts and to carry out their work to the highest standards. Given that a very small percentage of any population possesses a high intellect, we are now in a position where hordes with a modicum of intellect, who now have a degree have ended up in positions which at one time they would not have been considered for. This has clearly given rise to the unprecedented levels of incompetence and mismanagement in central and local government, and constantly lowering standards in business.

We have produced a generation with falsely high aspirations who lack the intellectual capacity to utilise their higher education effectively.

It is high time to learn the lesson of Blair's misguided policy and to revert to a system where more emphasis is placed on vocational skills' training and leave academic higher education to those who are intellectually most suited, and who will ultimately, if given the opportunity, be able to contribute effectively to getting us out of this mess.

We can not see the wood from the trees.