Policy-making... bah...

Today the ministry announced the "reforms" around education...

Main points:
1. Elementary school - more focus and time on basic skills: numeracy, literacy. Language skills - english, especially. All-in-all, child focused education...

2. High school: compulsory english for everyone.

3. Higher education: introducing tuition fee.

My opinions:

1. They are still focusing on the surface only... ridiculous. Read: Unfinished revolution and many other I listed earlier, you will get my point, and I will explain it more deeply later.

2. Yeah, right... not bad as an idea. But again... the devil lays in the details, as we say. Language studies are compulsory at most high schools even today... and still the quality, well... and more importantly, the motivation... if someone doesn't want to study, he won't... it's not the question of making something compulsory... Everything IS compulsory in schools, anyways...

3. I support the idea of tuition fee. But with certain conditions only...
What is the situation now?

a) eg., medicine students: over 5 years of education, lot of money invested - they leave to Norway, Sweden, UK... for better salary. (I don't know exact numbers, sorry if exaggerating)
b) scholarships are given based on academic results
c) further scholarships are given based on social status and for community work, like AIESEC (last one doesn't apply everywhere)
d) far more students in higher education then needed <- the words "higher education" and "university degree" still have a magical effect on people's brains
e) there are courses both with and without tuition fees
f) the quality of education is questionable in many cases, ESPECIALLY in teacher training
g) trendy professions... law, business...
h) unis are focusing on theoretical knowledge

The tuition fee that is about to be introduced is based on academic results also. If you study well, literally, GET GOOD GRADES, you pay less... It's called FER, pronounced as "fair".

Why do I think it is NOT FAIR at all?

Academic results... taking it as a base, I think , is a totally wrong concept...
As I said in the previous post: good grade ≠usable knowledge. There is correlation, but far less than people think. A good example is a survey conducted by Hewitt Inside consulting. Managers were asked whether the grade of diplomas matter when hiring new employees. Only 4% said yes...
Doesn't it tell you something?

I'm afraid if students want to pay less for their education (why wouldn't they)... they will either cheat more which doesn't lead anywhere, or study even harder... in this case spending more time over books, loosing contact with reality, not getting any practical knowledge, whatsoever...

I have other ideas... rewarding is good... but make it fair... make it in a way that achievements matter... but not academic. Measure usable knowledge! Give them work! Give them tasks where they can show they are capable of putting knowledge into practice!

Please argue with me! Write comments...