Well, I always thought that the comment "Poor, nasty, brutish and short" was Julius Caesar describing the Celts. There also is a school of thought who believe that Blake's "Dark Satanic mills" were in fact Oxford & Cambridge Universities. This new curriculum certainly sounds just the ticket and possibly the time is right as it certainly was not in the past. As an undergraduate in the 'fifties all my colleagues and I wanted was to get a ticket in the shortest possible time – not to actually learn anything! Teaching medical students, in the 'seventies and 'eighties, was heavy travelling as they only wanted to learn how to be a brain surgeon or whatever – their interest in wider concepts and clear thinking was minimal. The difference today, as I view my grandchildren's progress through life, is that they choose courses that they want to do with no thought of monetary reward status, or whatever – TV and film producting, sports administration and the like. They have always had money and, unlike my generation, do not seem aware that it does not "grow on trees". It is quite possible that, with all its faults, the current young people might be very responsive to such thinking by curriculum designers. Good Luck !!

where's the beef?