GCSE results: Quarter of exams graded an A
Discussion
Says the Telegraph
I for one am happy that NuLabia's educational policies are creating a new generation of uber-intelligent super children.
The future of this country is indeed bright.
I for one am happy that NuLabia's educational policies are creating a new generation of uber-intelligent super children.
The future of this country is indeed bright.
Problem is, as with monetary inflation, it's hard to reverse the trend .. even before NuLab came on the scene, parents didn't like to be told their little johnny isn't as bright as they would have hoped .. so better give them a couple of *s and keep them happy .. until they get to the real world and realise that no one cares for these dumbed down qualifications.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews...
fido said:
Article said:
George, who was hoping to read business at Manchester University, was spotted on a week-long holiday to Tenerife just weeks before his exams and had been pictured on nights out with ex-Big Brother contestant Sophie Reade, 22.
Hmmm, Master Lineker needs to look closer to home methinks 
Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 24th August 11:51
GCSE's are irrelevant, I only did mine a few years ago (i'm 27) btu even A levels dont really seem to make any difference when applying for most jobs
Its only the kids taking the exams that are losing out because of the ease of these modern qualifications.
For what its worth, I got several A's and B's (about 4 and 6 or so I dont remember) and to be frank I am pretty thick. A chimp could pass the GCSE's i took
Its only the kids taking the exams that are losing out because of the ease of these modern qualifications.
For what its worth, I got several A's and B's (about 4 and 6 or so I dont remember) and to be frank I am pretty thick. A chimp could pass the GCSE's i took
It winds me right up
My OH younger sister has just got her results
She's a very smart girl and has worked damn hard on her coursework and revision etc, I know for a fact she was turning down a lot of invites to go out as she was focusing on her exams
She got 11 A's
And now everyone is going to tell her its because exams are getting easier, I feel for her I really do, I'm sure some of her friends who haven't worked as hard are going to get just as good results
As far as I can see the only lesson this is going to teach her is why bother working hard when you can do the minimum and still get good marks, not a good life lesson IMO
My OH younger sister has just got her results
She's a very smart girl and has worked damn hard on her coursework and revision etc, I know for a fact she was turning down a lot of invites to go out as she was focusing on her exams
She got 11 A's
And now everyone is going to tell her its because exams are getting easier, I feel for her I really do, I'm sure some of her friends who haven't worked as hard are going to get just as good results
As far as I can see the only lesson this is going to teach her is why bother working hard when you can do the minimum and still get good marks, not a good life lesson IMO
My daughter has just finished year 10, so she's part way through most of them, but one of her courses was a 1 year course, and they have put them through for modules or something in some of them, plus she is doing a higher maths, she just went for the few she was getting today and is disappointed with a B for Maths, B for the 1 year food tech course, C&U for Biology units 1 and 2 (she can resit unit 2) both Cs from Chemistry units 1&2 and a D for unit 1 of Chemistry.
Personally I think she has done really well, especially as most of them seem to be crammed into one year, and she has worked really hard for them, but she's upset cos she keeps seeing the headlines about how many As people are getting.
Personally I think she has done really well, especially as most of them seem to be crammed into one year, and she has worked really hard for them, but she's upset cos she keeps seeing the headlines about how many As people are getting.
OllieC said:
For what its worth, I got several A's and B's (about 4 and 6 or so I dont remember) and to be frank I am pretty thick. A chimp could pass the GCSE's i took
We ALL know and that is part of the problem. How do you pick a candidate when everyone has 8 or 9 grade A, but can't read or write.One Nephew has got a rather good haul of grades except in his Latin which he only got a D for - says he will resit this and will also resit his RS at the same time as he only got a C in that last year. Apparently it didn't go down well when he started arguing that God started off Global Warming because he set light to the Burning Bush 
An other Nephew has also manged to get a C in his German 2 years early so not a bad day.
An other Nephew has also manged to get a C in his German 2 years early so not a bad day.
I'm sure many kids worked really hard.
Fact is exams have got easier, and some have got a lot easier, like maths and physics.
Back in the day, when I was a lad, I believe the results were graded on a curve, we all knew some years some papers were easier than others, but it didn't matter because only fixed percentages were graded as A and so on.
IIRC basically half were graded c and above, and we were told D was considered a fail.
In practise it meant a hard year a mark above 70% could get you an A, and easier year it could take 80%
Fact is exams have got easier, and some have got a lot easier, like maths and physics.
Back in the day, when I was a lad, I believe the results were graded on a curve, we all knew some years some papers were easier than others, but it didn't matter because only fixed percentages were graded as A and so on.
IIRC basically half were graded c and above, and we were told D was considered a fail.
In practise it meant a hard year a mark above 70% could get you an A, and easier year it could take 80%
hornetrider said:
fido said:
Article said:
George, who was hoping to read business at Manchester University, was spotted on a week-long holiday to Tenerife just weeks before his exams and had been pictured on nights out with ex-Big Brother contestant Sophie Reade, 22.
Hmmm, Master Lineker needs to look closer to home methinks Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 24th August 11:51
From my experience the people that got the top grades were the clever students and the hard working students. In society we want both hardworking and clever people in the top jobs. However, the clever people didn't have to work hard for their grades so they stopped trying.
We really should be wanting people to achieve their best rather than obtaining a certain grade.
We really should be wanting people to achieve their best rather than obtaining a certain grade.
Whats missing is that the emerging supereconomies like India and China are imposing rigorous standards in education. ( The US is also guilty of this sort of grade inflation).
If we create a sort of delusion of excellence by making it easy to get good results, the education runs the risk of being devalued comparatively in an ever more global job marketplace. I have spent lot of time with kids coming from the technical area in Indi, ( IIT grads) and the standard is simply stunning.
If we create a sort of delusion of excellence by making it easy to get good results, the education runs the risk of being devalued comparatively in an ever more global job marketplace. I have spent lot of time with kids coming from the technical area in Indi, ( IIT grads) and the standard is simply stunning.
funkyrobot said:
Please correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm noticing a lot of university place bashing at the moment. The BBC news website (as expected, really) has been constantly moaning about the 'lack' of university places. Is it because we now have a different government to (Za)nu Labia? Or is it because the PC brigade is dug in deep and they think that everyone should go to university, even if they don't get the required grades?
The BBC has just blown it out of proportion. There ARE enough places, and if you get the grades the universities want you get a place. People complaining about a 'lack' of places are the ones who didn't get their grades.RDMcG said:
Whats missing is that the emerging supereconomies like India and China are imposing rigorous standards in education. ( The US is also guilty of this sort of grade inflation).
If we create a sort of delusion of excellence by making it easy to get good results, the education runs the risk of being devalued comparatively in an ever more global job marketplace. I have spent lot of time with kids coming from the technical area in Indi, ( IIT grads) and the standard is simply stunning.
Have to concur there, the standards are simply stunning by comparison to the - and I am not exagerating here fIf we create a sort of delusion of excellence by making it easy to get good results, the education runs the risk of being devalued comparatively in an ever more global job marketplace. I have spent lot of time with kids coming from the technical area in Indi, ( IIT grads) and the standard is simply stunning.
king morons I have had as graduates from the UK of late. I don't really care about GCSEs - I'm sure there has been grade inflation (why else introduce A*) but they're the sort of basic competency based qualification where if everyone were to meet the required standard, everyone could have an A* and it wouldn't matter.
I'm more saddened by that application of the same "all shall have prizes" philosophy to A-levels. Whether people like it or not, fundamentally A-levels are for sorting the sheep from the goats for university entrance. It's a competition, for finding out who is best, not who is good enough, it needs winners and losers, and it should be graded to a curve.
I'm more saddened by that application of the same "all shall have prizes" philosophy to A-levels. Whether people like it or not, fundamentally A-levels are for sorting the sheep from the goats for university entrance. It's a competition, for finding out who is best, not who is good enough, it needs winners and losers, and it should be graded to a curve.
otolith said:
I don't really care about GCSEs - I'm sure there has been grade inflation (why else introduce A*) but they're the sort of basic competency based qualification where if everyone were to meet the required standard, everyone could have an A* and it wouldn't matter.
I'm more saddened by that application of the same "all shall have prizes" philosophy to A-levels. Whether people like it or not, fundamentally A-levels are for sorting the sheep from the goats for university entrance. It's a competition, for finding out who is best, not who is good enough, it needs winners and losers, and it should be graded to a curve.
To an extent that's true, but the problem was even when there was O levels and CSE's IIRC the jump from O to A was a big one.I'm more saddened by that application of the same "all shall have prizes" philosophy to A-levels. Whether people like it or not, fundamentally A-levels are for sorting the sheep from the goats for university entrance. It's a competition, for finding out who is best, not who is good enough, it needs winners and losers, and it should be graded to a curve.
When the dumbing down started with one size fits all GCSE's the jump from them to old fashioned A levels ie mainly exam based, little course work, make you think for yourself, and prove you can function under pressure, the leap was even bigger.
Then we got the modular approach, which allows retakes of parts of the course work again IIRC. - and the decline of the A level, I recall reading one study done by a Uni which determined an A in Maths A level a few years ago was equivalent to a D twenty years previously.
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