McDegrees from McD's
Keith Parkins | 29.01.2008 16:00 | Education | Repression | Social Struggles
"It is going to be a tough course, but once you have got a qualification in management you can probably go anywhere." -- Gordon Brown
"By becoming awarding bodies, Flybe, McDonald's and Network Rail, are enabling the skills of their employees to be recognised and recorded." -- Ken Boston, QCA
"Just last week, a report revealed that some universities have concerns over diplomas. We are unsure whether those institutions would be clamouring to accept people with McQualifications." -- Sally Hunt, General Secretary, University and College Union
Gordon Brown wishes to see an increase in training provision. His idea of 'training' is a McQual, a vocational qualification awarded by McDonald's, or if you are unemployed, deny benefit and force the unemployed onto New Deal scam training courses run by companies like CDG, a4e, Working Links.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on
The satirical magazine Private Eye likes to take the piss out of third-rate universities and their dumb students and worthless degrees, typically referring to a university as the former Carpet Warehouse on the North Circular.
It is depressing to see the satire has become a reality. McDonald's will be allowed to award vocational qualifications claimed to be the equivalent of A levels or even a degree.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7209276.stm
And no, this announcement was not made on April the First.
McDonald's workplace is about de-skilling, a standardised procedure that anyone with more than two brain cells or a McDegree can follow.
Monday evening on the BBC Radio 4 six o' clock news, a representative of McDonald's was trying to bullshit the listeners into believing that learning the skills to be a McDonald's shift leader, a really tough training programme we were told, would set you up for life, or at least would set you up for running a restaurant with your transferable skills.
I have news for Roland McDonald's sidekick.
No it does not. It takes real skills to run a good restaurant. You need to be able to cook, to plan, to manage, you need people skills, financial skills.
If we were talking about the training restaurants established by Jamie Oliver then we are talking about real skills, but otherwise don't make us laugh.
Later in the evening, on 'the Learning Curve' (a BBC Radio 4 education programme), we had the unedifying spectacle of a spokesman for QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), trying to justify their accreditation of McDonald's. We heard how training by McDonald's was highly regarded in the hospitality industry, virtually echoing what McDonald's had said earlier the same evening. McDonald's were invited to participate on the programme, but Roland McDonald was not available!
This move follows concerns raised by business leaders that schools, colleges and even universities are failing to equip youngsters for the world of work. Maybe it makes sense, a McDegree for a McJob! You will then be fully qualified to take on any McShit job that you are offered. It will feature boredom, low skills and very low pay.
Last week, four out of ten university admissions tutors in a group of leading universities said they would not accept students who had taken the new Diplomas which are being introduced next autumn.
What we are seeing is a dumbing down of education and training.
Middle ranking universities despair at the poor quality of their intake, which seems to go down with every passing year. Students who cannot communicate in the English language. And that is the natives, let alone the foreign students.
There is something wrong when a student submits an essay written entirely in text English and is surprised when failed. Where punctuation marks are used for creating smilies but apparently have no other use.
u no wat i meen m8!!!! ;-)
At the other end of the spectrum, the unemployed are forced onto scam training courses run by companies like CDG (Careers Development Group), where those who attend are subjected to bullying, humiliation and degradation. Courses that are great for lining the pockets of those in the private sector that run them, but do nothing for the unemployed other than make their life a misery.
Whilst it is easy to pick on McDonald's, it should not be overlooked that two other commercial organisation have also been granted the right to award vocational qualifications: Network Rail and Flybe (budget airline).
The mind boggles: A Degree in Third World Transportation, Planet Destruction and Carbon Emissions, a Diploma in Lost Baggage!
McDonald's were pioneers in serving junk food. Are they now to be the leaders in junk education?
Web
http://www.mcspotlight.org/
Further reading
Joanna Blythman, Bad Food Britain, Fourth Estate, 2006
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/bad-food-britain.htm
Greg Critser, Fat Land
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5673284
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5457144
Fast Food Nation, March 2006 {DVD}
http://www.participate.net/fastfoodnation
Hannah Goff, McDonald's serves up 'Diplomas', BBC news on-line, 28 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7209276.stm
John Humphrys, Lost for Words, Hodder, 2005
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5386352
Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine
Felicity Lawrence, Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate, Penguin, 2004
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/notonthelabel.htm
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5457973
Keith Parkins, MP promotes junk food, Indymedia UK, 17 January 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360187.html
Keith Parkins, MP yet again pictured promoting McDonald's, Indymedia UK, 19 January 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360389.html?c=on
Keith Parkins, Why do we feed our kids junk food?, Indymedia UK, 12 February 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362123.html
Keith Parkins, New Deal boot camps, Indymedia UK, 28 November 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386689.html?c=on
Keith Parkins, Scam training course for the unemployed, Indymedia UK, 27 December 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388504.html?c=on
Keith Parkins, McDonald's celebrates 25 years in Lincoln, Indymedia UK,
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388932.html
Keith Parkins, Harassment at CDG continues, Indymedia UK, 25 January 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390153.html?c=on
Keith Parkins, Brown's global 'arms' training race, Indymedia UK, 28 January 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on
Keith Parkins, Bad Food Britain, to be published
PM wants one in five apprenticed, BBC news on-line, 28 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7213127.stm
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Penguin/Allen Lane, 2001
Super Size Me! {DVD}
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Profile Books, 2003
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5802823
John Vidal, McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial, The New Press, 1997
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5444601
Working Stinks, SchNEWS, 14 December 2007
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news614.htm
"By becoming awarding bodies, Flybe, McDonald's and Network Rail, are enabling the skills of their employees to be recognised and recorded." -- Ken Boston, QCA
"Just last week, a report revealed that some universities have concerns over diplomas. We are unsure whether those institutions would be clamouring to accept people with McQualifications." -- Sally Hunt, General Secretary, University and College Union
Gordon Brown wishes to see an increase in training provision. His idea of 'training' is a McQual, a vocational qualification awarded by McDonald's, or if you are unemployed, deny benefit and force the unemployed onto New Deal scam training courses run by companies like CDG, a4e, Working Links.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on The satirical magazine Private Eye likes to take the piss out of third-rate universities and their dumb students and worthless degrees, typically referring to a university as the former Carpet Warehouse on the North Circular.
It is depressing to see the satire has become a reality. McDonald's will be allowed to award vocational qualifications claimed to be the equivalent of A levels or even a degree.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7209276.stm And no, this announcement was not made on April the First.
McDonald's workplace is about de-skilling, a standardised procedure that anyone with more than two brain cells or a McDegree can follow.
Monday evening on the BBC Radio 4 six o' clock news, a representative of McDonald's was trying to bullshit the listeners into believing that learning the skills to be a McDonald's shift leader, a really tough training programme we were told, would set you up for life, or at least would set you up for running a restaurant with your transferable skills.
I have news for Roland McDonald's sidekick.
No it does not. It takes real skills to run a good restaurant. You need to be able to cook, to plan, to manage, you need people skills, financial skills.
If we were talking about the training restaurants established by Jamie Oliver then we are talking about real skills, but otherwise don't make us laugh.
Later in the evening, on 'the Learning Curve' (a BBC Radio 4 education programme), we had the unedifying spectacle of a spokesman for QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), trying to justify their accreditation of McDonald's. We heard how training by McDonald's was highly regarded in the hospitality industry, virtually echoing what McDonald's had said earlier the same evening. McDonald's were invited to participate on the programme, but Roland McDonald was not available!
This move follows concerns raised by business leaders that schools, colleges and even universities are failing to equip youngsters for the world of work. Maybe it makes sense, a McDegree for a McJob! You will then be fully qualified to take on any McShit job that you are offered. It will feature boredom, low skills and very low pay.
Last week, four out of ten university admissions tutors in a group of leading universities said they would not accept students who had taken the new Diplomas which are being introduced next autumn.
What we are seeing is a dumbing down of education and training.
Middle ranking universities despair at the poor quality of their intake, which seems to go down with every passing year. Students who cannot communicate in the English language. And that is the natives, let alone the foreign students.
There is something wrong when a student submits an essay written entirely in text English and is surprised when failed. Where punctuation marks are used for creating smilies but apparently have no other use.
u no wat i meen m8!!!! ;-)
At the other end of the spectrum, the unemployed are forced onto scam training courses run by companies like CDG (Careers Development Group), where those who attend are subjected to bullying, humiliation and degradation. Courses that are great for lining the pockets of those in the private sector that run them, but do nothing for the unemployed other than make their life a misery.
Whilst it is easy to pick on McDonald's, it should not be overlooked that two other commercial organisation have also been granted the right to award vocational qualifications: Network Rail and Flybe (budget airline).
The mind boggles: A Degree in Third World Transportation, Planet Destruction and Carbon Emissions, a Diploma in Lost Baggage!
McDonald's were pioneers in serving junk food. Are they now to be the leaders in junk education?
Web
http://www.mcspotlight.org/ Further reading
Joanna Blythman, Bad Food Britain, Fourth Estate, 2006
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/bad-food-britain.htm Greg Critser, Fat Land
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5673284 http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5457144 Fast Food Nation, March 2006 {DVD}
http://www.participate.net/fastfoodnation Hannah Goff, McDonald's serves up 'Diplomas', BBC news on-line, 28 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7209276.stm John Humphrys, Lost for Words, Hodder, 2005
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5386352 Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine
Felicity Lawrence, Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate, Penguin, 2004
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/notonthelabel.htm http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5457973 Keith Parkins, MP promotes junk food, Indymedia UK, 17 January 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360187.html Keith Parkins, MP yet again pictured promoting McDonald's, Indymedia UK, 19 January 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360389.html?c=on Keith Parkins, Why do we feed our kids junk food?, Indymedia UK, 12 February 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362123.html Keith Parkins, New Deal boot camps, Indymedia UK, 28 November 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386689.html?c=on Keith Parkins, Scam training course for the unemployed, Indymedia UK, 27 December 2007
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388504.html?c=on Keith Parkins, McDonald's celebrates 25 years in Lincoln, Indymedia UK,
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388932.html Keith Parkins, Harassment at CDG continues, Indymedia UK, 25 January 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390153.html?c=on Keith Parkins, Brown's global 'arms' training race, Indymedia UK, 28 January 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on Keith Parkins, Bad Food Britain, to be published
PM wants one in five apprenticed, BBC news on-line, 28 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7213127.stm Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Penguin/Allen Lane, 2001
Super Size Me! {DVD}
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Profile Books, 2003
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5802823 John Vidal, McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial, The New Press, 1997
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5444601 Working Stinks, SchNEWS, 14 December 2007
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news614.htm
Keith Parkins
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