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Originally Posted by Scucca  Even when the university grant meant anything, the university system was dreadfully dominated by the middle and upper classes. There was never any notion of "fairness" as the tertiary education system reflects inequality of opportunity throughout. |
Of course there was fairness. You really miss the point that educated parents will lead to educated children. Most people who have a higher education will have a high regard for education and they will pass this on to their children. Those children will work harder at school and therefore will do better in school. That is why the middle and upper classes dominated the universities. Those children from poorer backgrounds had parents too busy working low paid jobs to spend time teaching them and encouraging them to work hard at school. The fact stands that university places were granted on educational ability and not on the ability to pay. Seems that was fairer to poor people than anything else I've seen.
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Originally Posted by Scucca Strange comment, given Britain has traditionally suffering from both skill shortages and a long tail of low skilled labour. When did this 'great trade school system' exist? |
Young lads who left school at 16 were able to be employed by tradesmen who taught them the trade. That is how Britain trained its plumbers, woodworkers, electricians, etc. It was an excellent system.