Going for a song

Abstract

When I contemplate the development of policy for post‐secondary education, I am reminded of one of the least pleasant popular songs of the past two decades: the one which asked plaintively “What's it all about, Alfie?”, and was sung by a lady who sounded to me as if she were being slowly strangled while suffering from severe constipation. I am beginning to manifest the same symptoms myself — although it is my thought processes rather than my voice which they affect. For our problems seem never to come any nearer resolution. Perhaps indeed they cannot, until we have had a General Election. But if that goes wrong (from my point of view), I doubt if we shall be any further forward. One has only to contemplate the statements of Mark Carlisle, the Tory education spokesman, to justify those doubts: they are urbane and soothing, but unhappily vacuous. His back‐up man Dr. Keith Hampson is far from mentally constipated; he seems quite unable to control a constant flow of half‐digested views and nostrums about higher education, while neglecting totally the 16–19 year olds.

Citation

Fowler, G. (1979), "Going for a song", Education + Training, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 121-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb016607