[thechat] Fucked Up US Educational System.

[Martin]

On Tuesday, January 29, 2002, at 09:24  pm, Joe Crawford wrote:

> Erika Meyer wrote:
>
>> Separating college-bound students from trade-bound students seems a
>> bit harsh to our US notions of equality, and I would indeed expect
>> that in a diverse place like the US, racism would be a big hurdle.
>> But I dunno, maybe it's more realistic & fairer to everyone.
>
>
> I completely agree. The reality is that not everyone is going to go to a
> 4 year college, yet High School more or less assumes that everyone will
> go to college. But this kind of distinction would explode our cultural
> misapprehension that there is no such thing as "class" in the USA. There
> is, we simply deny it.

Also, it seems that the US has covert discrimination behind the
coverall term 'college'. If "Most cops have a college degree", what
does this mean?

Since about 1990, the UK has moved from the old system of
* University (academic focus - liberal arts, 'pure' science plus
high status vocations like Medicine and Law)
* Polytechnic (vocational & practical focus on Engineering, PR,
    Tourism etc)
* Higher Education College (trade-based)

So in the old days, a University degree really did mean an
academic elite. Now, it can mean evening classes in hairdressing
as well as 4 years spent exploring what language tells us about
human cognitive function.

And even these days, there's a move towards sixth-formers
calling themselves 'students' and describing themselves as
being at college just because they don't have wear school
uniform any more.

There's a big debate about whether this is a good thing.
Depending on which side you're on, you'll call it Dumbing Down
or Exploding Elites.

Cheers
Martin
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