Are students taking the easy option?

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Thu 24th Aug 2006

Local young people will now know their GCSE and 'A' level results. We can be sure that this borough with its well educated population, its tertiary college and strong independent schools will generally do well.

There is a somewhat fruitless debate about whether standards are rising or failing overall. What is clear is that just under half of the teenage population - more in this area - qualify for higher education as against 1 in 10 in my generation. Although it is absurd for the government to set targets (now 50%) for university admission, and although some would benefit more from vocational courses, it must be beneficial that so many young people have access to a university education.

My concern is about what they study. As many now take psychology 'A' level as maths and the former has risen 60% in five years while the latter has fallen 20%. More study media studies (up 85% in five years) than physics (down 12%) or all modern languages put together (down 62%). Some might say that the subject doesn't matter provided students work hard and think clearly. But I worry that young people are looking for easy options and are ill equipped for future career demands.

Maths and science are the basis of modern economics and this is well understood not just in the US, France and Germany but in India, China, Korea and Russia. But schools, and the curriculum, are failing to meet requirements. Nor can we just assume that the rest of the world will speak to us in English.

Drastic solutions may be needed like giving extra university admission points to those who succeed at advanced maths or paying specialist teachers quite a lot more. Drifting along isn't an option.