I don't like to say this, but a detailled analysis presently underway, comes to a contrary conclusion. This looks across the piece focusing on what 'degree level education' really means in the UK. In essence, the way we implemented state comprehensive secondary education meant that the 1944 Act 'grammar, technical and secondary' separation were mixed meaning all pupils received the technical level - Teachers simply can't teach all levels in one class. In practical terms, that meant they have been taught just to accept base facts and not to question them. We see this by the well reported dumbing down of GCE / GCSE testing. Then, as the Government created a demand that at least 50% of students should go to university, a shortage of these institutes lead to the re-classification of most County Technical Colleges and Art Schools, without any increase in course standards. A perfect storm. An unintended consequence is the now vast number of younger people who simply accept what they have been taught to believe are absolutes in fact terms, the accuracy being underpinned simply by being from an official source faux or otherwise - sadly, these are the 'remain' young voter. Similarly, there are a significant number of older people, who were educated before this dumbing down had time to take effect, and these seem to be in the exit camp. This analysis is, of course, deeply disturbing to those guiding our education policy as well as the Government, not least because it calls into sharp focus the worth of student loans, let alone the billions pumped into state education. It's fairly easy these days to get a international comparisons, just one example demonstrates. India has dramatically improved it's attainment levels since independence, both secondary and university. Hence, very little IT coding or indeed development is done these days without heavy Indian involvement. So, perhaps this is why we are now in a bit of a mess with Brexit. From my own perspective, it also tells another message. That is, much as I'd want to exit the EU, sadly, we appear to have lost the management and operational capability to stand on our own. In essence. we have created a workforce that has to be told what to do but none educated sufficiently to do the telling. A dilemma indeed.
Let’s hope the youngsters get taught how to use paragraphs.