A healthy debate ensued and it was pointed out by one contributor that we are all ‘experts’ in the area of education, in that we have all been through the system and some of us have children that are receiving the current ‘educational experience’. One retired member pointed out that he had received a Government grant to enable him to take a degree. However current students have the burden of an effective ‘lifetime mortgage’ to enable them to pay the fees demanded to obtain a degree. The financial costs have gone from ‘heavenly bliss’ to ‘purgatory’ leading to the question of “What can we expect in the future for our society?”
The lack of girls taking science was regretted. Some thought that this was primarily a function of the culture of this country. Other countries have a higher proportion of girls taking science and engineering, however everyone applauded the attempts to rectify the situation in the UK.
Everyone is anxious to maintain high educational standards for all, but is the current system, at school and university level, addressing this question? This will only be clear with the passage of time.