Layering up
15 hours ago
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Graduates Are Better
Nowadays I get my news from Channel 4's catch up service on my nifty iPhone app. It keeps me abreast.
Yesterday we had the news that applications to university this year are down on last year, unsurprising as tuition fees have been significantly raised. Of course, as the professor says in the interview above, graduates are still the first choice for employers when recruiting for all sorts of interesting and life-enhancing jobs.
There are other benefits of obtaining a degree, too. The professor, at 04.25 above, says, "All the evidence that comes out of the OECD is that graduates have a much better quality of life. They're better parents, they're better citizens, they participate in democracy, they're healthier..."
And who could argue with her? Generally, middle class people are better than working class people in this great meritocracy we live in. It goes without saying that a doctor, a lecturer or an accountant is a better parent, a better citizen, more politically active, and more healthy than a plumber, an office clerk, or, especially, a scummy chav living on benefits.
And all children can do it, they can be whatever they want to be. All they have to do is knuckle down at school, "do the right thing" to better themselves if you will, and a golden future awaits them.
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A recent survey found that Plumbers are the happiest people in work. And my doctor is quite pissed off with listening to moaning oldies all day and yearns to retire and become an antique dealer.
ReplyDeleteEvery house I've lived in has had poorly designed pipes according to plumbers. I wouldn't want to be a plumber; another day, another house with shoddy pipes.
ReplyDeleteMust really wind them up.
Rog - They may be happier but they're not as good people as doctors. The professor said so!
ReplyDeleteBilly - And I bet they go home and take it out on the kids!
Sometimes I look at *that* picture of the Bullingdon Club, and I look at those beautiful, confident, rich, posh, student faces and I think, yes, but are these people actually *happy* now? And I rather suspect they are. Fucking bastards.
ReplyDeleteIs there a guide to the class system in England?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea who fits into which category and why.
And can you work your way up or down from the class into which you were born?
Tim - Why should they be unhappy? The world is theirs.
ReplyDeleteMJ - Working class I would say means the lack of a university education. Some (Wikipedia) would have you believe working class people are lower-skilled or have lower incomes than middle class people. But a lot of working class jobs involve a high degree of skill and are highly paid. In Corrie, for example, I would say they're all working class except for the doctor and Ken Barlow. Ken moved many years ago from a working class background into the middle class though he remained in a working class area and married a working class woman. You could not call Deidre middle class. As for the entrepreneurs in the street, of which there are an amazing number, they have made money without needing education. It's not completely clear-cut, though. I had a friend from a working class background who got a sociology degree then became an electrician. His education had absolutely no impact on his class. I suppose there must be the odd posh plumber, too. I hope this is clear!
Thank you, Geoff.
ReplyDeleteAnything incomprehensibly English becomes clear when put to me in Corrie terms.
The upper class are a different kettle of fish. Wasn't Prince Charles on Corrie once?
ReplyDeleteYes, he has.
ReplyDeleteThe Prince of our hearts.
ReplyDeleteThe person who has the most positive impact on my life every day is the street cleaner employed by the council. He(it's a he right now) makes it bearable. GP, or whomever is filling-in that day - ? frighteningly useless.
ReplyDeleteThe only graduates I'm friends with are very old friends who I knew before they went to college.
ReplyDelete