It's easy to think of people who went to top schools and top universities, who emerged from the system with a clutch of certificates, but are not fit to run a whelk stall.
We maybe need to rethink the whole business of education from the ground upwards. What we have is still influenced by the 'gifted amateur' concept of the 19th Century. 'Gentlemen' would be given a 'liberal education' including the Classics. This would fit them to rule over such base mechanics as engineers and scientists, who were, of course, not 'gentlemen.' Gentlemen would not soil their hands with such things - it was far below them. Why, people might think them mere tradesmen! No, the ideal was to have a country estate, ride to hounds, serve as a magistrate and maybe become Foreign Secretary in your spare time.
Some people may think what I am describing is arcane, but the point is that is the foundation our education system was built on. It's the sort of life Public Schools were designed to fit you for. Grammar schools were a pale, watered-down version of Public Schools, often copying their traditions.
We have, of course, tinkered with the system over the years, but have never totally reformed it. Some people have been pressing for years for 'parity of esteem' at the school level between technical and academic qualifications, and it speaks volumes that they are still pressing because it has not been achieved.
