Please read the article and have a look at the questions below it. Make sure you understand the vocabulary and the meaning of the article and questions. This is very important. You do not need to write down answers, but be prepared to discuss the topic.
Thank you and I'll see you in class!
Matthew
Apprenticeships? It's the 1950’s and 60’s
all over again
You could be forgiven for a sense of
deja vu over today’s story that top performing A-level students are shunning
going to university to take up apprenticeships.
What goes around comes around. Apprenticeships
were very much in vogue in the 1950’s and 60’s. Now they are back in fashion.
There is one difference, though, and it
is crucial one. The university places just weren’t there in the 50’s and 60’s.
Apprenticeships were the only option for many.
I welcome their return - it’s just a
pity that they seem to have gained their new popularity through the negative
route of would-be students being put off by the rise in university fees to
£9,000 a year.
And we have to guard against any
snobbish attitude towards them and hope no-one dismisses them on the grounds
they don’t cut the mustard. No “sorry, dear boy, but I mean - only an
apprentice!” then. You have to get to the situation where a parent is
just as proud of a child for adopting this route as going for a traditional
university course.
The reason I like apprenticeships is
they can provide the skills sets needed by particular industries. If a
school leaver knows his or her mind and what they want to do, why not opt for
them.
In a funny way, they are delivering on
the target set by Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister when he set a target of
50 per cent of young people going on to higher education. He never meant
they should all be taking academic subjects at the country’s most elite universities.
This, I believe, is the kind of mix he wanted but the message never quite got
across.
By Richard
Garner – the Independent - Thursday 15 August 2013
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Discussion
Questions
With your partner, discuss the following questions.
Feel free to ask any follow-on questions you like.
1. What
do you think of apprenticeships? Are they a good idea?
2. Is it really that important to graduate from
university?
3. Do you think the cost of tuition fees is worth
paying? Is it a good investment?
4. Does university adequately prepare students to join the work force?
5. What percentage of the population do you think
should be educated to university level?
Why?
6. Do you regret any of the choices you made
regarding your education or career?
If you could go back
and change things, what would you change?
7. Do you have any advice for your classmates on
the best route to success?
8. If you ran the country, what policies would you
enact with regard to education, training, employment, tuition fees, student
debt, etc in order to ensure a healthy economic future for everyone?
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