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Am I the only who finds the royal family's educational qualifications embarrassing?

Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his. Then there's prince charles our future king, he's done 5 O levels and TWO A levels gettings Bs and Cs AND he got HIMSELF into Camb as well. Then there's the others who've done way sub-par subjects such Georgraphy, PE, politics etc for A level and have still gotten awful grades - Bs and Cs, the like. Then there's the cherry on the pie, the Queen herself - she's got no qualifications AT ALL according to the Telegraph.
Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Surely not? We're being ruled by a pack of dunces. They admitted it themselves (Princess Diana did, at least)! What are we waiting for??? REVOLUTION!!!!!!

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1. We're not being ruled by them. They're merely figureheads
2. Removing them would be bad for the economy (tourism etc.). Also, too much hassle.
3. I do agree royals should not get into uni on account of their status. It should be meritocratic.
Reply 2
Avatar for Jack Robinson
Jack Robinson
OP
Can't we get cleverer better educated figureheads? These current ones are seriously embarrassing.
Reply 3
Avatar for Democracy
Democracy
20
Original post by tengentoppa
1. We're not being ruled by them. They're merely figureheads
2. Removing them would be bad for the economy (tourism etc.). Also, too much hassle.
3. I do agree royals should not get into uni on account of their status. It should be meritocratic.


I don't want to turn this into a generic "monarchists vs republicans" thread but point 2 is nonsense considering France has no problem attracting tourists despite no longer having a monarchy. Tourists come here to see the palaces and so on, not the royals themselves - no reason why that still couldn't happen if we became a republic.

In response to the OP's point - yes, you're right, but the basis of monarchy is being born into the particular position, it has nothing to do with demonstrating intelligence or aptitude. So yes, you make a reasonable point...but it's not really the most relevant argument against the monarchy imho.
Reply 4
Avatar for Skepz
Skepz
4
Original post by Jack Robinson
Can't we get cleverer better educated figureheads? These current ones are seriously embarrassing.

Like the guy above said, we're not ruled by them. Also i don't see why it matters
Reply 5
Avatar for APZ70
APZ70
They probably don't place all that much importance on their academic studies. Just a thought.
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his. Then there's prince charles our future king, he's done 5 O levels and TWO A levels gettings Bs and Cs AND he got HIMSELF into Camb as well. Then there's the others who've done way sub-par subjects such Georgraphy, PE, politics etc for A level and have still gotten awful grades - Bs and Cs, the like. Then there's the cherry on the pie, the Queen herself - she's got no qualifications AT ALL according to the Telegraph.
Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Surely not? We're being ruled by a pack of dunces. They admitted it themselves (Princess Diana did, at least)! What are we waiting for??? REVOLUTION!!!!!!
Geography is one of the conventional 'hard subjects' and is favoured by universities.
Bs and Cs are not embarrassing grades to have.
Reply 8
Avatar for Democracy
Democracy
20
Original post by The Wild Youth
Bs and Cs are not embarrassing grades to have.


This is also very true tbh.
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his. Then there's prince charles our future king, he's done 5 O levels and TWO A levels gettings Bs and Cs AND he got HIMSELF into Camb as well. Then there's the others who've done way sub-par subjects such Georgraphy, PE, politics etc for A level and have still gotten awful grades - Bs and Cs, the like. Then there's the cherry on the pie, the Queen herself - she's got no qualifications AT ALL according to the Telegraph.
Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Surely not? We're being ruled by a pack of dunces. They admitted it themselves (Princess Diana did, at least)! What are we waiting for??? REVOLUTION!!!!!!


Prince William went to St Andrews not Cambridge. And initially it was to do Art history but swapped to Geography. Neither AH nor Geo are "sub-par" sybjects.
Reply 10
Avatar for BJack
BJack
19
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his.


He's undertaking a professional qualification, not an undergraduate course. It's a sure bet that other people taking professional qualifications through Cambridge's ICE will have worse A level and/or degree results than William.
Original post by Democracy
I don't want to turn this into a generic "monarchists vs republicans" thread but point 2 is nonsense considering France has no problem attracting tourists despite no longer having a monarchy. Tourists come here to see the palaces and so on, not the royals themselves - no reason why that still couldn't happen if we became a republic.

In response to the OP's point - yes, you're right, but the basis of monarchy is being born into the particular position, it has nothing to do with demonstrating intelligence or aptitude. So yes, you make a reasonable point...but it's not really the most relevant argument against the monarchy imho.


I completely disagree, most of foreign friends who have come here as tourists have said the appeal has been that the palace still function in the way that was intended, this makes us unique with regards to almost the whole of Europe. It would be very bad for tourism if we became a Republic.
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his. Then there's prince charles our future king, he's done 5 O levels and TWO A levels gettings Bs and Cs AND he got HIMSELF into Camb as well. Then there's the others who've done way sub-par subjects such Georgraphy, PE, politics etc for A level and have still gotten awful grades - Bs and Cs, the like. Then there's the cherry on the pie, the Queen herself - she's got no qualifications AT ALL according to the Telegraph.
Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Surely not? We're being ruled by a pack of dunces. They admitted it themselves (Princess Diana did, at least)! What are we waiting for??? REVOLUTION!!!!!!


Ok. Let's get this straight. Prince William got into Cambridge for a ten-week specialist course. He didn't get in based on his A-Levels, he does have an undergraduate degree from St. Andrews :rolleyes:

"Awful grades - B's" - heehhehe. :troll:

The Queen was made the queen at 18. I'm not surprised she has no qualifications :tongue:
Original post by Democracy
I don't want to turn this into a generic "monarchists vs republicans" thread but point 2 is nonsense considering France has no problem attracting tourists despite no longer having a monarchy. Tourists come here to see the palaces and so on, not the royals themselves - no reason why that still couldn't happen if we became a republic.


The royals attract interest though. Think of the global interest in the royal wedding and royal birth.

That whole "mystique" would be lost if you got rid of the royal family.

(Tbh I'm actually neutral on the issue of the monarchy, but I do think that they help a lot with our global image/interest beyond their palaces.)
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his.


I would add that I don't think anyone has got in with a greater set of extenuating circumstances either, being the third in line to the throne and all. ABC isn't too bad considering how much exposure he's had in the public eye and the myriad of engagements and commitments he's had to juggle.

For someone so condescending towards what they perceive as sub-par academic standards you are quite the grammatical libertine.
Original post by Jack Robinson
Yes, considering Prince William's gotten himself into Cambridge, and though the course isn't a conventional one, I don't think anybody gotten in with more mediocre A levels than his.


I got in with BDE at A level, first for a Masters degree and then for a PhD :smile:

Cambridge in particular has a long history of taking professional experience into account when admitting people to degrees, and has a very strong continuing education philosophy. My Masters degree took between 4 and 6 military and ex-military officers on each cohort and had never had one fail in over 40 years.

Never mind, next week I'm sure you'll be starting another thread complaining that A level results shouldn't define your future life and it's not fair you can't get a place on/job in ............... :rolleyes:
Original post by Birkenhead
I would add that I don't think anyone has got in with a greater set of extenuating circumstances either, being the third in line to the throne and all. ABC isn't too bad considering how much exposure he's had in the public eye and the myriad of engagements and commitments he's had to juggle.

For someone so condescending towards what they perceive as sub-par academic standards you are quite the grammatical libertine.


I don't think that the public eye, or 'engagements' could really account for his grades, especially when considered along with the educational privilege he's had. Even so, we don't have Royalty for their educational achievements - what we do have them for is up for debate. I do think that the perception that the Royals are superior in any way is a hang up from before the Great War that the Gentry were rich because they were more intelligent (or that they were better leaders/officers).

If we wish to have more intelligent 'figure heads' then we'd have to be able to select them - referendum on the Monarchy anyone?
To be honest i barely got onto my courses so i cant say anything. Best of luck to him haha
Original post by lifelonged
I don't think that the public eye, or 'engagements' could really account for his grades, especially when considered along with the educational privilege he's had.


All the educational privilege in the world doesn't detract from the fact that he has been constantly and often callously exposed in the media (his wife's dignity compromised, for example, or perhaps the death of his mother, caused in part directly by members of the media), which is known to have deleterious mental health effects in the best of cases, and has been endlessly occupied with official engagements that have no doubt often left him exhausted. There's no doubt these factors would affect even the most resilient person's academic performance, regardless of how much money is being spent on their education.
Reply 19
Avatar for Jack Robinson
Jack Robinson
OP
Original post by Birkenhead
I would add that I don't think anyone has got in with a greater set of extenuating circumstances either, being the third in line to the throne and all. ABC isn't too bad considering how much exposure he's had in the public eye and the myriad of engagements and commitments he's had to juggle.

For someone so condescending towards what they perceive as sub-par academic standards you are quite the grammatical libertine.

I shall not deign to favour that with a constructive reply, all I shall deign to confer upon this gathering, and you in particular, is the notion that perhaps in my haste I might have missed out an essential grammatical something or two.
And I'll add that Prince William has got the exact opposite of extenuating circumstances - incriminating circumstances.
(edited 10 years ago)

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