Why is it that England has the highest number of educated illiterates ?

Answer 1

Why is it That England Has The Highest Number Of Educated Illiterates?

It probably is the USA actually. But so what? It's still an important and serious question and the reasons are the same:-

It all revolves around the problem that, like everywhere across The State, there is a lot of money to be made in the education industry. Like the sickness industry, the poverty industry, the law and order industry, the immigration industry . . . etc, etc, etc.

In short, we have to make the distinction between what I like to call the "ostensible" reasons for The State's various incarnations and the "actual" ones.

Firstly, and with regard to education, let's consider the "ostensible" reasons behind the structures of recent years. (Almost always, the nature of the facade for the "real" ones).

Towards the end of the 1980s it was 'decided' that the UK lagged behind the rest of its European neighbours in the 'qualifications' stakes. Green light, therefore for enormous numbers of empire-building schemes throughout the field of education.

'Norm referencing' (examinations) to be replaced with 'criteria referencing' (do it again and again until you pass - everyone can pass.) Curiously, in certain, more sensitive fields such as medicine, architecture, air traffic control etc. this has not caught on!

Suddenly, lo and behold, the UK was transformed from being the dunce of Europe into the smartarse.

Schools got the "National Curriculum", NVQs and GNVQs. (Known affectionately in the teaching profession as: Not Very Qualified and Going Nowhere Very Quickly, respectively!) FE Colleges were removed from (democratically elected) local authority control and "privatised" (April 1st 1993). Polytechnics became 'universities'. (In fact, lots of other organisations did, too!) . . . eventually, and as real levels of literacy and numeracy nose-dived, we got the Adult Literacy and Adult Numeracy Core Curricula! (Should I rest my case?) . . . And so on and on it goes - and will continue to go.

So what about the "real" reasons for all the change?

All these changes involve quite huge and even august groups of individuals. Whole armies of education professionals. Don't forget: these are not (at least for the most part) teachers; they are people who wear pin-striped suits, drive very expensive, shiny black motor cars, work for such organisations as The City And Guilds Of London Institute (a registered charity can you believe!) and sport flashy laptop computers and digital video projectors on all the numerous, regular rounds of monthly 'presentations', meetings, 'training-days' or just plain soirees!

Who drafts all these curricula? Who writes all those 'performance criteria'? Who decides on what is a 'competency'? Are they elected? Can they be removed if what they did last year now needs to be changed because of some inadequacy? (And, believe me, all these things ARE changed EVERY YEAR - as I say: it goes on and on).

The Government has poured huge sums of taxpayer's money into the education industry, as it has in other areas. But it's the same story there too: a feeding frenzy!

Everyone, pretty much, wants a good, well-paid job, most people want several cars, expensive housing, 2.4 "kids", foreign holidays, flash laptops and so forth. In short, nice fat salaries. And when a government hemorrhages taxpayer's pounds into this or that sector, THAT is precisely what people get: It's a honeypot with a great many bees humming around it!

As to the actual question of whether or not anyone in the education industry gets educated or for that matter, anyone in the poverty industry gets helped out of the trap, anyone who is ill gets a diagnosis . . . etc. Well, who gives a monkey's! They will certainly get an NVQ though, or if they can afford it, even a degree. Isn't that what the employer wanted, then? (Even if that employer might be, say, a newspaper and their employees can't tell the difference between Lloyd's and Lloyds; greater/ fewer vs more/less; possessive and contractive apostrophes - in fact, apostrophes per se, or can barely construct a sentence.)

And another thing . . .

Answer 2

Don't believe that.

America has the highest number of educated illiterates!

Our public school system turns them out in droves.

Answer 3

why dont you take a close look at our so called education scheme.im sure you will find the answer.look at the prats who run this country.

Answer 4

You've obviously never heard of other countries like America.

Answer 5

Because we're good at it.

Answer 6

I don't have any factual information on this, but wanted you to know I was laughing. Thanks!! It brightened my night!

Answer 7

Facts please!