Talk:Key Skills Qualification

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm slightly suspicious about NPOV in this article, particularly the final section. Seems generally biased and opinionated. --Chrisd87 23:30, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Probably. Skinnyweed 02:24, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree. I find this article on key skills to smack of capitalist/government propaganda. First of all, although 'the' key skills are important, the most important key skills are omitted - namely understanding people and creativity. Creativity is often overlooked by capitalists, even though it is very important to industry as well as to other walks of life. Key skills should be about enabling people to get the most from life, but they are in fact about enabling industry to exploit people maximally. Further Education has several responsibilities: to prepare people for life, first and foremost, then to prepare people for academia and/or industry. Unfortunately big business has the strongest say. I also found the "attack" on academia unfounded - namely this allusion to academic exams being 'easy' and insufficient for the purposes of industry.

Academic exams are hard, which is why they can not possibly have a 100% pass boundary, how many people can score 100% on quantum mechanics or on complex biological systems or on the history of 17th century Europe? Nobody can achieve 100% in front-line research by its very nature! Industry may expect high standards, but then people do their jobs day in and day out and if they are simply processing customer orders, for example, then this does not compare to particle physics! If they have to do more 'front-line' tasks, like developing new products, then creativity is vital and if they take business risks then, by definition, success can not be guaranteed! In any case, nobody in industry achieves 100%, if they do then they must be gods. My electricity supplier and Internet providers are far from 100%!

A degree in physics teaches what is needed for physics and not for an endless variety of work places. Industry should be prepared to train people for their specific job roles, simply asking "why can't you do this job 100% when you have these A-levels?" shows the desire for business to have everything for nothing. A-levels do not primarily prepare people for industry, nor should they. They are foundations in education to give people some knowledge and understanding of the whole world, not just making bucks. Industry should build upon standard education by training people to perform the specific tasks required of them, and realise that only they can do this and that it is in fact their responsibility. If you complain about standards of reading, writing and numeracy, then you should realise that these skills improve with use. Education of course must place importance on these key skills, but not to the exclusion of other skills, such as scientific reasoning and artistic appreciation.

My English and mathematics are far better now, then when I was a student, because I have matured since then! Remember a 16 year old is still young and has little experience of things - they can not be expected to perform a specific job as competently as someone who has worked in this specific job role for decades. Exam results merely prove what a person was capable of on that day. If a student gains good grades, then it does not mean that they will not forget some of what they have learnt, after all, it takes constant use to maintain skills fully and they are too young to have a vast amount of experience. This is why industry MUST train people since they have the experience that is required! Learning should be on-going, and should not be expected to be complete by 16, 18 or 21! An employee who expects to find ideal employees is living in their own world! The world does not serve a particular employer, and who has the right to expect perfection when they themselves are not perfect? Industry has to stop being pretentious and face reality. People are the most valuable of things, they are not simply money-making devices to be exploited!

Enjoyed the rant - as a 16 year old about to take my AS Sociology exam today, I agree. --Joewithajay 05:30, 24 May 2006 (UTC)