posh and posher

[southeastastra]

oh dear, what a state our country is in

they are such knobs

Thank heavens someone else is watching this... I hate, hate, hate it. I just found myself agreeing with bloody Thatcher though. I can't believe that happened!

Andrew O'Neil is making his agenda overly clear.

Although, actually, if I thought about it, I would say that all schools should be able to provide an education that would enable their pupils to enter Parliament should they so desire.

i find it so depressing that we have come to this :(

What do you believe that agenda to be?

etonians are taught how to be smarmy bastards = perfect for the tory party

I agree, south. It will, no doubt, be worsened by the change in univerity fees too. I find it very dispiriting.

bloody debating skills. maybe state schools should start a gcse course for that

a cgse in arguing the toss, so helpful

I think the fact that the "Special Advisors" take on research roles which are poorly paid speaks volumes. Not only do you need the public school/Oxford background to get in, you also need to have some means of financial support in order to get started once you're out of academia.

So depressing, and good point Belle, this is one of the reasons I am very against reducing MPs salaries

I'm just wondering, though, if the reason that the "shiny ones" are successful, though, is because that's what the public wants now. We're so used to glossy people on tv and there is no denying that a public school/Oxbridge education will give you polish. Perhaps we're getting the representatives we deserve? That's even more depressing...

Chilling thought, but probably true, BDSM.

i think people just hope that the highly educated know what they're doing and are lost when they realise that they don't know shite either

don't etonians usually join the army? there is a war they could fight instead of fucking up our country

I think they have to go to Sandhurst rather than Oxford to do the Army thing

I thought this programme would make me angry. It hasn't done that. It's made me very, very sad.

i agree and just thinking maybe they should ban anyone from entering politics before they've at least worked for 20 years in the real world

people will only take so much too ...

We take loads in this country though. The poll tax riots did force change. The fees protests have not. I don't believe that those in power feel they have to listen to the populace any more (regardless of which party they belong to).

The thing is though we have voted for the MPs which suggests we are willing to take quite a lot.

I quite enjoyed the documentary, all these beautiful buildings. Bring back the grammar schools I say!

Yes, it seems that the problem wasn't with the grammar schools, but with the Secondary Moderns. Consigning children to the scrapheap at 11 is wrong. But not catering to the needs of all children is always wrong, whether it is not allowing children to reach their potential at the top or at the bottom of the ability scale. You end up with boredom and dissatisfaction at both ends. You need some sort of streaming or selection within the system that allows for more flexibility, as Andrew Neil said at the end. It must be possible.

The program proves my theory which I have held for a while that the education system in the UK has been and will be systematically undermined through poor organisation, large class sizes, poor quality teaching in some areas and willfully attempting to ensure that class division in society remains. The establishment was shaken by the second world war, and the final collapse of the British empire, that they could not be in all places at all times, so allowed the working class and middle class to become upwardly mobile. Once they manged to regroup, it was business as usual. What they seem to forget is that Britain is a tiny player in the world and it needs all its working age citizens from all genders, classes and races to compete within a global workforce to ensure future prosperity. Especially as the world population is younger demographically compared to the UK. Once the toffs party is over they will realise that they need us common people again to do the hard graft.

Have to agree, it left me feeling depressed. So many things depressed me: the old Etonians commenting that the facilities at Oxford really weren't on a par with the facilities at school; the children at Andrew Neills old school being convinced there was no way they'd ever get into Oxbridge, or St Andrews; the headteacher saying that everyone can do quite well at something (but no one does fantastically well at anything????).
Noeyedear, I don't think it's the secondary moderns that were the problem so much as the comprehensives which allowed everyone to become - well, fairly ok, I suppose. I still (20 years later) cringe at the memory of Oxford interviews. ( had been to comprehensive school then HE college for a levels). We were utterly unprepared for the experience and I was terrified to realise that most of the candidates there already knew each other, knew how the process worked, knew about 50 other people already in the college. I don't think I had the moral fibre to rise above it!
My DH OTOH went to public school - which I've visited because his SF still teaches there. I was horrified to see the disparity of opportunity. That school's new music building cost more to build than the new Northern Ballet building in Leeds; it has concert halls and theatres( note the plural) and facilities that after a while begin to seem obscene. My DH really couldn't comprehend what was wrong with it, but the kids who attend those schools have absolutely no idea that the life they are living is not normal. If they then only socialise with similar types they will continue to have no clue, and are in absolutely no position to govern this country.
I totally agree they should do some time in the workplace before being allowed to enter politics

Sorry turned into a bit of a rant and trying to write it on my phone so it may be incoherent. But it did really shock me.