get in the way of their dumbing-down of
the plebs' kids in state schools?
Now, Google give the UK a friendly kick
in the head. I wonder why all the big
software companies are all American.
hhhmmm
checkit: Press Association
..Google boss attacks UK education
Dr
Eric Schmidt said Britain must drastically change its education system to avoid
…
....The
head of internet giant Google has attacked the British education system,
warning the country risks falling behind in the digital age unless it makes
drastic changes.
Dr
Eric Schmidt called for a return to a "Victorian" approach bringing
"art and science back
together".
Addressing
the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, he is expected
to say something has to be done to "reignite" children's passion for
science and technology.
He
praised British television as a success story but warned "everything"
could still go wrong.
He
said: "If I may be so impolite, your track record isn't great.
"The
UK is home of so many media-related inventions. You invented photography. You
invented TV. You invented computers in both concept and practice. It's not
widely known, but the world's first office computer was built in 1951 by Lyon's
chain of tea shops. Yet today, none of the world's leading exponents in these
fields are from the UK."
Giving
the keynote MacTaggart Lecture, he added: "Think back to the glory days of
the Victorian era. It was a time when the same people wrote poetry and built
bridges."
The
IT boss said the UK has seen "a drift to the humanities" and people
were divided into boffins and luvvies.
He
said he was "flabbergasted" that computer science was not taught as
standard in UK schools, adding: "Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching
how to use software, but gives no insight into how it's made. That is just
throwing away your great computing heritage."
Dr
Schmidt is the first non-broadcaster to give the landmark lecture, which is
dedicated to the memory of actor and producer James MacTaggart.
