Elementary level
– What kind of school did you go to? What did you study? Until what age?
– Did you like the subjects you studied? And your teachers?
– How many hours a day did you study? Did you have lots of homework?
– Did you study a foreign language?
– These days many young people pay to do a master’s degree after they have finished their first
degree. Have you done this? (Was it worth the money you paid?)
– Would you consider doing this in the future? (Why? Why not?)
– If so, how much would you pay for your qualification?
– Are any universities in your country in the list of world’s top 100 universities?
Intermediate level
– If you had the time and the money, would you like to do another degree?
– What would you like to study? Which university would you choose to study at? Why? (or Why
not?)
– In most countries, school is compulsory up to a certain age (16 in Britain). Do you agree that school should be compulsory? (Why? Why not?) What is the correct age?
– Should every child study at university? Or does it make sense that some people finish their
education at an earlier age? (16, or 18, for example)
– In some countries (USA), school is secular. Prayers and religious symbols are forbidden. In other
countries (UK) state schools can be run by churches or religious organisations and may involve
religious activities. What is the situation in your country? Do you think that religion has a place in
schools?
– In Britain children who study at private (called “public”) schools, get better exam results and can
more easily enter the elite universities: Oxford and Cambridge. If you lived in Britain, and if you
had the money, would you give your child this advantage?
Advanced level
– “Education is wasted on the young” – Do you agree?
– Some people believe that the state should decide the curriculum that schools use (as in Italy, for
example). Others think that individual teachers, or schools, should have more freedom to decide
what and how they teach. What do you think?
– If you started your own school, how would you organise it? What would it be like?
– What subjects would students study/not study?
– Studying at university gives you an advantage in your career. Should you have to pay for this (like in the USA), or should it be free, or subsidised by the state (Europe)?
– Should entrance to certain university faculties (medicine, law, engineering, etc.) be restricted, so
there are not too many graduates, or should these faculties be open to all?
