UK General Discussion

[Vosem]

Just reading about the PM attacking the Welsh government. There is no need.

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I like that zing at the end (although, Welsh Labour narrowly missed there own target of a majority, mind.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/06/trust-in-david-cameron-hits-new-low_n_1408585.html?ref=uk

So Wales seems to be doing even worse than the US, and the Welsh government replies with a system designed to lessen competition?! Competition (call it 'antagonism' if you want) is the ultimate motivator. It's like they're trying to worsen Welsh schools (though, of course, they really do sincerely believe what they're doing is better for students. It's actually a little frightening.)

[Vosem]

Competition = republican code for giving away public money to the rich.

That's not how I interpreted the article. Competition in an educational setting means making the students compete against each other, maybe even be 'antagonistic', as a motivator. Rivalry is, and always has been a good motivator. Apparently Welsh Labour thinks this would not be good, because sharing, or something.

But maybe 'competition' in this context means the Tories want to give away Welsh children to the rich. After all, I only read the excerpt Robot Rominee quoted. Could you enlighten me?

[Vosem]

In case of UK, competition is competition between schools.
More or less, private schools, which is bad.
Private schools shouldn't be funded by the government.
And comparing notes between schools is a bad idea because private schools can just exclude someone for having too low marks, so the averages are biaised. Here, in Quebec, we had a scandal because some school were giving answers of government exams or inflating notes to be well ranked in rankings.

Competition between schools is good, and comparing notes is good, too, because it motivates schools that do poorly to do better or face cuts. That said, no way should private schools be government-funded.

Just nationalize all the schools... far easier solution.

No. If I want to make money by setting up a better-quality school than the government does and charging students to enter, who's to stop me from making money?

[Vosem]

No. If I want to make money by setting up a better-quality school than the government does and charging students to enter, who's to stop me from making money?

The government and the voting public who don't want you to make money from schooling?

Meh...private schools are a bad idea in general, but the government really shouldn't be allowed to stop me from making money in a way that doesn't hurt anybody.

[Vosem]

Probably threw one or two too many hackish statements about Mitt Romney into the exam and in a response to "What kind've people vote Republican?"

Oh? Do tell us what sort of people vote Republican. I have a tendency to break all these sorts of rules (being young, Jewish, first-generation natural-born, and until a few years ago a city-dweller) and want to see if even one beyond a description of ideology would apply to me.

[Vosem]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/whose-policy-ukip-or-monster-raving-loony-party

I got 7/16

6/16