NO - Claire Fox, director, Institute of Ideas
Well, what a surprise, teenagers have not been bribed into staying on at school with promises of reward cards and goody bags.
It really shouldn't take a consulting company to have told politicians that this patronising scheme would fail. Did it never dawn on them that such blatant pandering to the lowest common denominator implies a contemptuous attitude to the young?
As always, Department for Education and Skills policy wonks underestimated young people's aspirations, while Connexions has always been more about manipulating young people's behaviour than trying to inspire them. These wonks thought "tapping into young people's lifestyle priorities" was preferable to promoting the merits of education. You can hear them plotting - "don't mention studying or books, they'll never go for that; let's get them with discounts on CDs".
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