Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Exams are NOT getting easier

Just because 5 year old Desiree Alli passed GCSE Maths this year does not mean that the exams have been getting steadily easier for years. It was simply a one-off and we should remember that an averagely intelligent child would have absolutely no chance of passing until they were 9 or even 10 years old.

6 comments:

Benedict White said...

I love the sarcasm!

Anonymous said...

Of course the exams aren't any easier.

Any reasonably intelligent child will pass a GCSE at 5 years old - as long as they are coached to within an inch of their life at the expense of all other life skills.

This will be education policy within months - because unlike all the other gobshite we have read recently, this has empirical evidence to back it up.

Cynical

Anonymous said...

I took my 'O' Levels back in 1980; when pupils (not students or F*** me; 'Learners!' had to actually understand the topic!

Yes, shock / horror, we actually learnt something, and we were then required to show that we actully knew what we were talking about!!

Marks were deducted for poor grammar and spelling - what a concept!

Visiting the exam boards for todays GCSEs, I am appalled at how pathetically easy some of the questions are!

No wonder I'm meeting youngsters who brag that they have 8, 9, or even 10 GCSEs, but can't even write a letter, and can't tell me damn thing, about any of the subjects they supposedly passed!

If you passed more than half a dozen 'O'Levels back in the day, you were a bloody genius and headed for oxbrige!

These days they head for 'Grimsville Met' (ex-polly) for a degree (sic) in; 'Travel and Tourism.'

Three years of partying later, and £30,000 in debt at the tender age of twenty one, they enjoy an extend sabbatical on the dole for twelve months, until they can start their carer as a 'Convenience Nutrition Operative,' i.e. working at McDonalds!!

What a farce...youngsters are being betrayed daily by our crappy, trendy education system!

Kimpatsu said...

Clearly I'm the same age as anonymous, as I took my O levels the same year. However, when I did my A levels two years later, the head of history cynically declared that all we had to do was pass the exam, and we were then free to forget all the material immediately afterwards. I don't think there ever was a golden age of education.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kimpatsu,

I take your point: But at lest striving to achieve your exams ment we had to learn the value of hard work, and we also left school with a greater understanding of the world.

A 'Golden Age' No! I agree, but it was certainly a superior age; at lest we left school with some broad understanding of our country's history and how things around us worked in both science and nature.

Kids now, seem to get their GCSEs as a matter of course, and don't seem to be educated in anything!

That is worrying, and damaging, not only for their futures, but for the country's too!

I'd take the education I had when I left school in 1980 over anything the kids today recieve.

Anonymous said...

Part of the problem with todays education is that everyone expects the kids to enjoy going to school ! When I was at school - every day was a pain in the a*se !

At the end of it - I came out with a fair education and a good knowledge about the world around me !

The only thing todays kids come out with is how to use a mobile phone to text x-factor votes or Jordans Bra size !