Educate populace to question and analyse

‘WE were misled !’, cry a proportion of the electorate regarding the sum available to the NHS per week if we leave the EU.

No individual should have taken that promotion at face value but any educated, numerate and literate citizen would be able to conduct research in a book or via other reliable sources (eg Google) to arrive at an informed opinion (there’s never been a better time to obtain information at a moment’s notice).

It is important our education system develops independentlyminded pupils whose responsibility it is to analyse and interpret ideas, philosophies and economic models emanating and flowing from our politicians. This is why it is so important to invest in UK education to stem the flow of under-educated citizens who arrive at a ballot box.

Take the minimum wage debate as an example: a non-thinking person would perceive this as a good idea, without considering the fact that it could either increase a firm’s costs and so prompt price increases, in which case, the worker is no better off in real terms. Alternatively, the employer may respond to minimum wage legislation by shedding staff.

My mother, a retired French teacher, will never forget how French taxi drivers possess the analytical ability to discuss philosophical themes while driving and this is attributable to the rigour of their education system. A nation where the propensity to vote on X Factor is higher than that for a General Election faces real problems in its democratic system. The solution is to improve education across the socioeconomic spectrum.