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Reader question: Please explain “get real” in this passage: Labour/the teaching establishment have systematically tried to remove all competition from education in the state sector. That is why it is falling behind the private sector. Get real, guys, competition raises standards, not central planning. Education is no exception, however hard you try to pretend otherwise. My comments: “Get real” is slang for warning against blindness to a certain fact or reality. In the above example, the author asks people to face this fact: Competition raises standards. Without competition, the state education sector cannot be successful. In other words, “get real” means: Let’s try to understand the real situation, however harsh it looks, instead of hoping for something that is impossible. Still in other words: No wishful thinking, please. Stop burying your head in the sand. Face it. Quit deceiving yourself and fooling around. The Chinese boss, for example, tends to often tell up-and-coming youngsters this: “Work for me. I’ll take care of thee.” If you believe that, you’re on a surefire way to success. For the boss, I mean. Not for you. No, not really. Because, let’s get real, folks, there’s only so much a boss can do. He’s no God, nor the Chinese feudal emperor (Even if he were, you are still as good as he is because, because time is different, this is simply what you’re supposed to believe in this day and age, ok? The Chinese emperor has had his day, plain and simple). | 
