| The new prestige of the British
graduates is the most spectacular because in the past Britain has been much
{{U}}(1) {{/U}}interested in universities and degrees than other
advanced countries—or even some backward {{U}}(2) {{/U}} In 1901 Ramsay
Muir observed that Britain had {{U}}(3) {{/U}} universities per head
than any other civilized country in Europe except Turkey. A UNESCO survey in
1967 {{U}}(4) {{/U}} Britain was still close to the bottom in Europe, in
{{U}}(5) {{/U}} of the proportion of the age-group from twenty to
twenty-four who were enrolled in {{U}}(6) {{/U}} education. Most
continental countries in the last decade have expanded {{U}}(7) {{/U}}
higher education faster than Britain. University statistics are notoriously
difficult to compare, because of the different implications of the word
"student"; in most continental countries anyone who {{U}}(8) {{/U}} his
final school exam—the baccalaureat (中学毕业会考)—is entitled to go into the
university on the principle of "let him pass"; but he has {{U}}(9)
{{/U}} guarantees of tuition or personal attention. Partly as a result there
are far more drop-outs and "ghost students"; in France half the students never
become graduates. A comparison of graduates, as opposed {{U}}(10) {{/U}}
students, shows Britain in more favorable light, for most British students take
a degree. {{U}}(11) {{/U}} even in terms of graduates, Britain is still
{{U}}(12) {{/U}} in the Europe league. Going to university is a much more solid {{U}}(13) {{/U}} among the sons of the bourgeoisie in France or Germany than in{{U}} (14) {{/U}} ; many of the British middle-classes— {{U}}(15) {{/U}} the shopkeepers and small-business men—have tended to be skeptical, if {{U}}(16) {{/U}} actually hostile, to university education for their children, and there are still rich and quite intelligent parents who will prefer their children to go straight {{U}}(17) {{/U}} school into the city, to the army {{U}}(18) {{/U}} to farming but the attractions of a BA or an MA have penetrated into areas, {{U}}(19) {{/U}}among the rich and the poor, where they would not have been felt twenty {{U}}(20) {{/U}} ago; and they are far-reaching. |