Education is overrated, especially in Britain, the value of degrees is eroded by their ease of accessibility and attainability to the stupid and mediocre alike.
1. 60- 70% of the population need only know how to read, write and do basic arithmetic. These are the majority who will work in Wal-Mart, McDonald's, collect garbage, deliver mail etc. or serve as enlisted personnel in the armed forces.
The beauty of the armed forces is they will continue to educate them & McDonald's will give them stars.
2. There are now too many half arsed universities, offering ludicrous courses, to people who if they had not benefitted from the dumbing down of qualifications, would be covered in point 1.
These are people who labour under the misapprehension that a degree (any degree) is the key to success. This was true 50 years ago, when only the top 10% went to university, now it's just a fast track route to the call centre for most. (A call centre that will eventually be outsourced to India)
3. University should be free to those doing essential courses for a career, teaching, nursing, medical, law, engineering etc. But having gained the qualification free of charge should have to do 5 years "National Service" to repay society, this would just mean working for the state, so state schools, hospitals, or armed services etc. Similarly, essential vocational courses should be treated in the same way.
Non essential and frivolous courses should be chargable at the full rate and not subsidised by the taxpayer at all. If you want to take a degree in Sir Cliff Richard Studies, at Scunthorpe Metropolitan University, you should do so at your own expense, see how many take up "Creative Knitting" when they have to stump up £35,000 to do so.
Thursday 22 October 2009
Sunday 4 January 2009
Israel needs help, is there a doctor in the house?
Once again Israel is on the offensive, having bombed Gaza, ground troops, supported by artillery, tanks and helicopters have flooded into the region and with an estimated 500 dead Palestinians in the past week already, how many more civillians will die at their hands?
Of course Hamas should not be firing rockets at Israel, but when 4 Israelis have died in the same time span, is this really a proportionate response, and can any country be allowed to conduct itself like this in the 21st century?
If you ask a jewish person, why the children of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness, before the reached the land of canaan? (a journey which should only have taken a matter of weeks) They will tell you, that god did not want the founders of their new nation to have a slave mentality. He wanted all those born into bondage to die off, and a new generation born into freedom to be the ones to create a new society, free from the hang-ups of slavery, oppression, cruelty and abuse.
When the new state of Israel was created however, it was created by refugees of Europe, from survivors of the holocaust, people who had been brutalised, oppressed, enslaved and systematically butchered without mercy. The very people who were not allowed to do the job back in the time of Moses.
It is commonly known, that those commit acts of abuse, were often the victims of abuse themselves, and it is a self perpetuating cycle. Is it any wonder therefore, that Israel should show behavioral tendancies, not dissimilar to the German army in occupied France in WW2?
They even use the same terminology as the nazis, when the resistance would attack a convoy, or engage in an act of sabotage, they too would take "REPRISALS", a phrase commonly used by the Israelis. The Germans too, used to kill a disproportionate number of civillians, for each of their casualties, usually ten to one, but on last weeks count, Israel are working on the basis of one hundred and twenty-five to one.
Israel one might think, has been around long enough now to have shrugged off the effects of WW2, but no, as the country was set up by people damaged by these events and this problem runs through the fabric of their society like a golden thread, not until Israel wants to be healed, admits it has a problem and seeks help, no matter however many special envoys, Camp David summits or cease-fires are put in place, things will never improve even Tony Blair won't have a chance.
Of course Hamas should not be firing rockets at Israel, but when 4 Israelis have died in the same time span, is this really a proportionate response, and can any country be allowed to conduct itself like this in the 21st century?
If you ask a jewish person, why the children of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness, before the reached the land of canaan? (a journey which should only have taken a matter of weeks) They will tell you, that god did not want the founders of their new nation to have a slave mentality. He wanted all those born into bondage to die off, and a new generation born into freedom to be the ones to create a new society, free from the hang-ups of slavery, oppression, cruelty and abuse.
When the new state of Israel was created however, it was created by refugees of Europe, from survivors of the holocaust, people who had been brutalised, oppressed, enslaved and systematically butchered without mercy. The very people who were not allowed to do the job back in the time of Moses.
It is commonly known, that those commit acts of abuse, were often the victims of abuse themselves, and it is a self perpetuating cycle. Is it any wonder therefore, that Israel should show behavioral tendancies, not dissimilar to the German army in occupied France in WW2?
They even use the same terminology as the nazis, when the resistance would attack a convoy, or engage in an act of sabotage, they too would take "REPRISALS", a phrase commonly used by the Israelis. The Germans too, used to kill a disproportionate number of civillians, for each of their casualties, usually ten to one, but on last weeks count, Israel are working on the basis of one hundred and twenty-five to one.
Israel one might think, has been around long enough now to have shrugged off the effects of WW2, but no, as the country was set up by people damaged by these events and this problem runs through the fabric of their society like a golden thread, not until Israel wants to be healed, admits it has a problem and seeks help, no matter however many special envoys, Camp David summits or cease-fires are put in place, things will never improve even Tony Blair won't have a chance.
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