Britain: Second best by choice?

It is argued that early industrialists´ claims to status were successfully resisted by the established ¿¿lite and that industry has never in Britain been accorded the high status that it has enjoyed in other industrial societies. UK industrial infrastructure, notably banking and technical education, did not develop along European lines. Britain´s relative industrial performance has been declining since about 1870, and her current efforts in biotechnology, magnetic scanners, space, IT and high technology generally are poor by comparison with her competitors. British engineering education is narrow, brief and underfunded in relation to its importance for industrial recovery and relative to our major competitors. Current and planned changes are modest and conservative reforms. The A level system perpetuates the arts/science divide and results in narrowly educated engineers, technically ignorant accountants, civil servants and politicians. This results in the exclusion of engineers from the higher levels of the policy process in industrial organisations and government, to the detriment of both. Significant change does not seem likely. It is concluded that Britain is opting, largely by default, for secondclass industrial status.