1. Our education system is largely a prolonged obstacle course designed to exclude all but the children of the prosperous and privileged (and a few very bright, not easily discouraged children) from the best jobs. Any benefit it provides in the way of training is largely incidental, it provides substantial benefits to the education suppliers of course.
2. If people want education over and above what they need for their work they should get it in their own time at their own expense, not at the expense of taxpayers, many of whom are far worse off than they are. I believe that much further education is merely used to gain bogus status and unmerited reward.
3. A classical, broad, non-vocational education is all very well for the heirs of rich families and for people who can live off their capital and investments, although even they are probably more likely to be made more conceited rather than more civilised. For most people, such an education is unlikely to provide them with the means to earn a decent living and is therefore likely to lead to them quickly becoming very bitter and twisted.
4. Children at school should have careers lessons as they have geography and history lessons, not just a half hour chat in their last term with the master delegated to give careers advice (although he has little interest in, or knowledge of, the subject). They should be given projects to find out as much as they can about the careers they are considering following. They should have to examine the advantages and drawbacks of each career choice, in general and from their own particular point of view. They should be able to visit labs, factories and offices and talk to people following the careers they are interested in.
5. Children should be ready to take the first steps towards their chosen career whenever they leave school or full-time education. A considerable number of young people are forced to leave school early by family circumstances, they shouldn't be at a disadvantage for the rest of their lives. They should be able to get a foothold in the discipline they wish to follow, ie. a paid apprentice or technician level position, and be able to continue their studies part-time. This would also suit many children who resent having to go to school to learn things that they are not interested in and which they believe will never be of any use to them. Also children with poor parents who resent not being able to have generous amounts of pocket money, nice clothes, holidays, parties, outings etc. like most of their fellow pupils. It is usually these categories of children who are, understandably, badly behaved at school.
6. By the time young people have taken their 'A' levels they should be ready to embark on a career at intermediate level and should be able to progress as far as they want to go by part-time study while earning a decent living wage. They should be able to get married and start a family at the natural age, which is getting earlier and earlier as courses get longer and longer. They should not have to wait until they have obtained a PhD then find there are hardly any unmarried people left in their age group to be impressed by it. For students of most technical subjects, further education is crippling socially, financially, sexually and emotionally, for other students it seems to be a ball. By the time they have finished full-time study I believe that many of them find that the experiences that should have made their late teens and early twenties the best period of their lives have largely passed them by.
7. Any further full time education immediately after leaving school should only be for fully committed, genuinely academic students of advanced technical subjects. Students who are destined to do research ie, who must get to the research frontier quickly to maximise their chance of doing original work when their abilities are at their peak. This means that engineering should be taught as an 'A' level subject, (and 'O' level too?).
8. Most people should have a period of work experience to check that they have made the correct career choice before qualifying for any more subsidised full time education. Everybody should be entitled to an annual quota of subsidised work-related education. This might be two or three weeks a year, (averaged over n years).
9. After the 'O' Level stage, all education that isn't work specific should be paid for by it's recipient.
10. Most people learn to read at primary school, from then on they are largely capable of teaching themselves if they are provided with the right guidance, environment, facilities and materials. This is how education should work, this is how children's interests, capabilities and aptitudes can best be determined, by letting them get on with what interests them at their own speed largely by themselves. Their progress is the best measure of their ability. Those who don't want to learn by themselves are not fit or not ready for intellectual work, they should be trained to do practical work but should have the opportunity to resume their education at any time in their lives that they need or want to. It is largely a waste of time and effort to teach people who are not motivated to learn. Motivation comes from interest or perceiving a need.
11. If children can't largely teach themselves from books etc. by the time they are fifteen they shouldn't attempt intellectual work, they would be wasting other people's time as well as their own.
12. In this society the only things worth learning are how to cheat others and and how to suppress one's conscience, assuming one has the misfortune to have one.
13. We need the testing of children's (and older people's) abilities to be more scientific. It is probable that many people waste their time trying to do things for which they have little or no aptitude because of pressures put on them by parents, teachers, society etc. Things like memory, problem solving ability, mathematical ability, visual artistic flair, musical artistic flair, mechanical design flair, manual dexterity, social skills etc. could probably all be assessed in order to identify people with exceptional abilities and to help everybody to find a suitable career. This needs to be done over the whole education period (and beyond) to see whether children's aptitudes can be identified early or whether they change significantly with age.
14. Most people spend their whole lives working in a very narrow area of activity, they don't need a broad education, if they had one it would be of little or no benefit to them, if they want one they can borrow books on any subject from the library or buy them from book shops.
15. Most half-decent jobs are so specialised these days that most school and university education has no relevance to them and provides little or no preparation for them.
16. Most children leave school without any books, all their text books have to be left behind, most of the knowledge they gained quickly drains away because they can't refresh it easily. Children should leave school with a few decent books for future reference otherwise their education becomes a waste of time.
17. A lot of trash TV channels should be ditched and be replaced with education programmes.
18. Secondary schools should be single sex at least until sixth form level to reduce under age sex, promiscuity and teenage pregnancies, also to improve education standards. Mixed social events could be arranged throughout the age range.
19. The education racket is a FILTHY, STINKING, CORRUPT, POISONOUS, LOATHSOME, HATEFUL, DAMNED, EVIL, SORDID PANTOMIME DESIGNED TO ENABLE A FEW TO PROSPER BY EXPLOITING AND CRIPPLING MANY.
20. People who want education beyond the needs of their employment and their fulfilment of their responsibilities to their families and society in general, should get it largely at their own expense and in their own time. Education that cannot be used productively should certainly be a person's own investment.
21. The best way to get some education is by disposing of the TV set.
22. Nowadays, education is preparation for a life of pain. Developing one's intellect when society values half-wits and oafs more highly is a good recipe for insanity and suicide.
23. Children who have ignorant parents don't have a chance in our education system. They don't find out how important education is until it is too late.
24. The Commission Radio 4. Sat 14th Sept 02:- 30-40% of exam grades are wrong, someone said. Coursework - often done with the help of parents etc. so isn't a good measure of ability at all. Apparently, the Russians wouldn't dream of assessing children's abilities without giving them an oral grilling. Exams are poor for assessing children's abilities. IQ tests don't predict high flyers. IQ peaks at 19. Emotional intelligence - peaks in 40s. High proportion of high flying business leaders have low self regard.
25. The time is approaching when everybody will have to spend a proportion of their time doing interesting intellectual work and a proportion doing the practical and manual work that nobody wants. Most people would probably be healthier and happier following such a regime, judging by war-time experience.
26. People can't be expected to be civilised and law abiding if they are unable to enjoy a similar standard of living to those around them, particularly if this is through no fault of their own, merely ill fortune, (this might include being endowed with a less than first class brain). Being clever shouldn't give privileges, it is a privilege in itself. The clever should bear greater responsibilities because they are more able to bear them.
27. Most of the full-time secondary and further education given to young people is of very little use to them in their working life, it just provides qualifications that enable them to get the specific vocational training they need. This is a very wasteful way of preparing children for their working lives, it also leaves them in the position of still needing favours from, and having to surmount the prejudices of, employers after they have qualified.
28. A large part of what most children learn at school is only of any use to them if they decide to become school teachers and, since most school teachers only teach one subject, most of what they have learned will still go virtually to waste.
29. Academic education at school (and university?) could be combined with vocational education at technical/commercial colleges.
30. Academic education shouldn't really be distinguished from vocational education; academic work is as much a vocation as any other sort.
31. One common effect of education is to corrupt those who are educated. It teaches them to think that if they stuff themselves with information, most of which they are never likely to need or use, and pass a few examinations, largely at other people's expense, they are better than people who don't do this and are entitled to a better life.
32. Since the state is prepared to give only minimal assistance to the unemployed and employers are only prepared to give minimal training to employees, the primary purpose of education should be to give people the skills they need to earn a decent living. Anyone who cannot earn a decent living is in dire trouble and likely to drift into crime, mental illness or suicide.
33. Vocational training should have started by the third year of secondary school at the latest.
34. In case they fail their exams or are forced by other unforeseen circumstances to quit school, all pupils should be more or less equipped, at each possible school leaving age, to take a more or less specific place in the workforce at the corresponding level. Whatever the circumstances of a student's quitting of full-time education there should always be a path by which he can recover lost ground in the future.
35. Moral instruction should be given prominence in case a child's parents are incapable of adequately fulfilling or are unwilling to fulfil this function. Most parents fall into one of these categories, few give their children comprehensive, coherent, structured tuition in this subject. Many children are allowed to grow up like weeds by their parents.
36. It is immoral to teach children morals at school if, when they become adults, they are allowed to be treated like dirt by employers and have to live in a society in which corruption is tolerated.
37. It is vital that children are given an understanding of the relevance and importance of all parts of their education so that they are motivated to learn.
38. By the time the sixth form is reached, cultural and recreational activities should largely take place in student's own time at their parent's expense, (poor parents being given assistance).???????????
39. It is essential that all children who aren't disabled take part in sports activities. Some of these could possibly take place outside school hours and use the facilities of local sports clubs.
40. The aim of the education system under the Tories was to make the obstacles to achieving middle class status insurmountable for the poor so that an exploitable serf class is preserved. The hypocrites are always going on about offering choice but the best choices are always restricted to the well off.
41. After the first two years of secondary school education the emphasis must be on vocational training.
42. What is academic education exactly? The Concise Oxford Dictionary definition of academic is "scholarly, (& by implication) abstract, unpractical, cold, merely logical", of what use is this type of education to most people? Why is this type of education considered to be superior? The only way most recipients of this type of education can hope to support themselves is by becoming a purveyor of it themselves. Teaching people to be more or less useless except for teaching people to be more or less useless isn't a particularly elevated vocation.
43. History is largely a cultural subject, it has little practical application, most people are sufficiently interested in it to pursue it to the extent of their own curiosity in their leisure time. History books can be read like novels, for entertainment. Only an introduction to the subject, to arouse interest, is therefore necessary in schools.
44. It is impossible for even a full-time historian to know more than a small fraction of world history so there is little point in anybody else learning more than a few salient facts.
45. Are some enjoyable, interesting, relatively easy lessons needed to refresh students between difficult subjects like maths and languages?
46. The emphasis in secondary schools should be on modern history, only a quick review of pre Victorian era history is necessary.
47. Most of the history learned by children is promptly forgotten once they have taken their exams.
48. The best way to ensure that children are equipped with the historical information they need is to teach from a really good text book that is far more comprehensive than the syllabus requires (one sizeable volume should be sufficient) and allow them to keep it when they leave school. If the book is well written many children will read the whole of it for pleasure although they don't need to do so to pass their exams. 
49. It is doubtful whether many children need to continue studying history beyond the second or third year of secondary school.
50. The amount of geography in the school curriculum can probably also be reduced somewhat. Most people learn all the geography they need or want from holiday brochures.
51. This is the age of specialisation, very few people need a broad education, if they want a broad education they should get it in their leisure time at their own expense.
52. Students who pursue full-time further education towards a qualification for a career should be paid a salary? If they fail to qualify for the career, or take another, some proportion, depending on circumstances, of the monies received should be repaid over a period of time.
53. Part of the population is encouraged to believe it is superior, the other part that it is inferior.
54. Demand for new specialisms needs to be identified early so that people can be trained in good time and a shortage of suitable labour doesn't make costs prohibitive and salary levels so high that they generate resentment in those who can't benefit from them.
55. Companies shouldn't be able to advertise for people with a vast array of skills, as they often do, even polymaths cannot exercise all their skills simultaneously so they cannot make efficient use of them. It would usually be more efficient to employ several cheaper people with fewer accomplishments.
56. Schools should teach children how to survive in this cesspit society, how to avoid being taken to the cleaners by poisonous, selfish employers etc.
57. The damned, poisonous, corrupt education system is designed to present an insurmountable barrier to anybody who is poor and worried about being made more so. At the higher education level it is designed more for the benefit of those working in the education industry than the students.
58. The education system is largely designed to provide one section of society, the middle and upper classes, with a bogus justification for higher rewards and a better life.
59. Education is designed to separate people into those who will have a life and those who will have a subsistence.
60. Education is largely designed to give people the delusion that they are superior and entitled to a better life than the rest of us, ie. it is designed to corrupt.
61. "Professional" people are deluding themselves that they are superior and deserve a better life because they have stuffed themselves with a lot of information they have never used and have long forgotten.
62. How many people can honestly say that they have used more than a very small part of what they learned during their formal education?
63. Only the children of the middle classes can be educated for a decent job, everybody else has to be content to train to be a wage slave.
64. People who do technical/intellectual work will have to have special educational arrangements.
65. The education system shouldn't trap people in a position of permanent disadvantage.
66. Anybody who is civilised is at a hopeless disadvantage in this poisonous, rat race, survival of the most ruthless, society.
67. The most civilising thing that education can do for people is to enable them to have a means of earning enough money to live as well as most other people they come into contact with and to have nearly the same status; all forms of work and all levels of ability should be respected.
68. The education system doesn't teach people the most important thing, the skills they need to earn a living. When most people finish full time education they are still dependant on receiving favours from employers, they shouldn't be.
69. The education system is largely designed by the middle classes to meet their own needs, ie. predominantly to prevent the working classes trespassing on what they regard as their turf.
70. Children shouldn't be able to go on to full time further education until they have some experience of the career they intend to pursue, unless they have shown a definite aptitude for that career and unless the course they intend to take is relevant to that career.
71. Only the people who come out top in the education race get the opportunity to use their education, for everyone else it is a waste of time. Society can't afford this waste.
72. Most people need education/training for a specific job, not to be a Jack of all Trades, there isn't much demand for those now. If people want a broad education they should get it in their own time at their own expense.
73. Children of poor parents are at a hopeless disadvantage compared with children who get private education, coaching etc. For the education system to be fair, all children should get the same tuition as near as is possible. Ability can't be assessed properly if different children are educated in different ways.
74. Is there any evidence that exercising the brain increases it's development? I think there probably is.
75. Nationalise existing universities and close them to privately educated children? They will have to go to private universities and will be banned from holding public sector positions, voting in elections or standing in elections. There has to be a disincentive to prevent people by-passing normal routes in order to obtain an unfair advantage. OR perhaps the same proportion of children from each school could be selected for further education on the basis that the average ability of all the pupils at each school should be very much the same and they should all have had almost the same tuition (coaching to be an offence?)
76. When should a child's choice of career be made? After puberty at any rate, drastic changes of outlook and, perhaps, ability probably occur then. Attempts should be made to assess children's abilities, interests and aptitudes at all stages of their education. These assessments need to be kept in a record that follows each child throughout his/her education in case it reveals information relevant to career choice. It should be fairly easy to recognise artistic types, scholar types, action-man types, carer types etc. and to help them identify the career(s) most suitable for them.
77. Children should be encouraged, even made, to take part in all sorts of activities, even things they don't like, to help them find what they enjoy and have an aptitude for. They shouldn't spend so much time passively listening to teachers, they should be made to study by themselves more, to perform in front of an audience more, to lose their inhibitions more, to use their initiative more etc.
78. The only way to survive and prosper in this society is to be a poisonous, ruthless, greedy, money grubbing, filthy minded heap of shit. Why aren't our schools training our children to be like this?
79. Children to be able to go back to school at 6pm to do homework etc.? (or stay till 6pm, teachers to be available until 5pm to give extra tuition?)
80. Anybody who reaches a certain standard to be able to go to university? Too many or too few might qualify.
81. Have voluntary classes so that student's interests can be determined by their choices?
82. These days it is easier for tradesmen such as plumbers and gas fitters etc. to earn a decent living throughout their lives than for people who do intellectual work. To prosper these days it is almost essential to start a business, this is easier for tradesmen than for most professionals.
83. The education system is designed primarily to ensure that the children of the prosperous classes become members of the prosperous classes of the future.
84. It appears that it is necessary to allow children to decide what type of work they want to do, how much time they want to spend on education and at what point in their lives.
85. Beyond a certain age people should only be given the education they want and need, it is a waste of time studying unless one is motivated to learn and one can only be motivated to learn by a benefit (not necessarily financial) that will be derived from learning.
86. About the only people who can make any practical use of history are school and university history teachers. History is almost completely irrelevant to the vast majority of people in their daily lives. The history most relevant to them is the most recent history, the sort that is least likely to be taught at school or university if my (distant) experience is anything to go by. Doing historical research and writing books about what one finds is a very precarious way of earning a living that only a few people, academics with time to spare mostly, can hope to pursue profitably. It is easy for anybody who is interested in history to find out whatever they want to know. Bookshops and public libraries are well stocked with books about almost every period and the vast majority of them can be read with very little effort because they are as easy, interesting and enjoyable as novels and require no technical or mathematical knowledge. There is no need for much history to be taught in schools, except to children who want to be history teachers. The same applies to geography. History and geography could possibly be taught in conjunction with English at primary schools, the children could be required to read a chapter of a history or geography book as homework then write an essay about some aspect of what they have read and answer some questions in class, they would have to read the book to be able to write the essay and answer the questions.
87. It is vital that people are able to earn a living. It is virtually impossible for a person unable to do so and therefore unable to enjoy a lifestyle as good as that of the people who surround him to stay remotely civilised for long.
88. Children shouldn't be put in a slot at age 14 according to Chris Woodhead? Moral Maze programme, BBC Radio 4. They ought to have some idea of the direction in which they want to go by this age (or soon after), surely?
89. Chris Woodhead also said that education was a conversation between the generations by which the young learn what is worth preserving, that it is the transmission of values down the generations. Surely this is only a small part of it's function, it's main function is to give children training that will enable them to survive and prosper in the harsh environment of an over-competitive society without behaving in a way that the other competitors find unacceptable. One of the members of the Moral Maze panel emphasised, as though it is immensely difficult, the need to train students to use abstract thought ; don't most people acquire the ability to handle abstract concepts more or less naturally?
90. The education system has little chance of producing civilised human beings all the time the media are undermining it's best efforts by directing a stream of moronic trash, porn and decadence at the young which most of them seem to be unable or disinclined to resist.
91. Education beyond the 'A' Level stage should be largely self-education, spoon feeding should no longer be necessary, access to a tutor should be all that is necessary. If this was general practice, a lot of academics would be freed to do productive work.
92. The primary purpose of education is to teach children the skills they need to earn a living as good as most people enjoy, everything else is secondary. People who are unable to obtain the lifestyle enjoyed by their friends, neighbours, relations and peers generally become bitter, anti-social and very likely criminal.
93. The education system prepares most people to be the sacrificial lambs of employers, it doesn't teach children how to make a living.
94. When they leave school or further education, most children still have to beg for the opportunity to be trained how to earn a living inside a business.
95. Everybody should be taught accounting, management and business skills at school so that they can't be duped into thinking these things are beyond them by employers.
96. There should be a college in every sizeable town with a good library where anybody can study between 8am and 10pm seven days a week. Examination fees for work qualifications should be very low or zero.
97. Children should be required to reveal their thoughts about their future career at regular intervals, giving reasons for their choices and assessing their strengths and weaknesses in relation to them.
98. Children should be given random tests quite frequently to see how they perform when they haven't had the chance to revise. The tests should cover knowledge they are supposed to have learned some time ago as well as the most recent stuff. These results, together with data on the performance of the whole class for comparison, should go into each student's record. The collection of these results accumulated over each child's school life should provide a good indication of his or her application and ability.
99. Schools and universities don't seem to be very successful at training people for work. Should industries have their own colleges and universities to give appropriate training to their staff and new recruits?

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