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A level results
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Is anyone else sick to the back teeth with the OTT coverage of the A level results.
I do not wish to take any credit from the youngsters who have worked hard and achieved their successful results, and I extend my commiserations to those who did not achieve the results they had wished for.
BUT. do we need to witness each year, scenes of screaming girls, jumping up and down, hugging each other and sobbing, (and that also includes the boys).
What are we to do with this future increasingly over qualified work force, will they consider themselves too clever to get their hands dirty.
I would much rather witness scenes of youngsters, jumping up and down, because they had successfully completed their apprenticeships as engineers, plumbers, electricians, motor fitters etc. etc.
Much more use to the country, don't you think? Although of coures there will always be a need for academics, but surely not in the numbers we are churning them out now.
I do not wish to take any credit from the youngsters who have worked hard and achieved their successful results, and I extend my commiserations to those who did not achieve the results they had wished for.
BUT. do we need to witness each year, scenes of screaming girls, jumping up and down, hugging each other and sobbing, (and that also includes the boys).
What are we to do with this future increasingly over qualified work force, will they consider themselves too clever to get their hands dirty.
I would much rather witness scenes of youngsters, jumping up and down, because they had successfully completed their apprenticeships as engineers, plumbers, electricians, motor fitters etc. etc.
Much more use to the country, don't you think? Although of coures there will always be a need for academics, but surely not in the numbers we are churning them out now.
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When I took my A-Levels (at a time when few people gained more than two or three and they actually meant something) there was absolutely no coverage in the news simply because it was not news. Students took their exams, some passed others failed. It happened with monotonous regularity at the same time every year. Those that failed shrugged their shoulders and either took re-sits or pursued another life course.
Since then there is no doubt that the examinations have become less onerous. I can say this with absolute confidence. I still have my A-Level examination papers and I have seen a number since, including those from three of the last five years. I am not particularly academically gifted but can say without much doubt that with a week or two of revision I could sit and pass three or four exams of today�s standard with little difficulty. This is not how it should be.
I know the arguments about the contribution that course work plays towards the results. Nonetheless, the exams are supposed to be a test of all the student has absorbed and if this is the case today�s students would struggle to achieve even decent �O� levels from my era.
Today�s coverage (which will take what little air time remains for the news after the Olympic Games non-news has been covered) is completely unwarranted. Everybody knows that around 98% of entrants will pass and that figure will be slightly up on last year. Some students will �only� get Bs, Cs or Ds (when they were confident of As) and be in tears, but they will still go on to three years of further education (which might just about bring them up to the A-Level standard of 50 years ago).
It�s not news, it�s just something the government wants us to hear to make us believe standards are rising.
Since then there is no doubt that the examinations have become less onerous. I can say this with absolute confidence. I still have my A-Level examination papers and I have seen a number since, including those from three of the last five years. I am not particularly academically gifted but can say without much doubt that with a week or two of revision I could sit and pass three or four exams of today�s standard with little difficulty. This is not how it should be.
I know the arguments about the contribution that course work plays towards the results. Nonetheless, the exams are supposed to be a test of all the student has absorbed and if this is the case today�s students would struggle to achieve even decent �O� levels from my era.
Today�s coverage (which will take what little air time remains for the news after the Olympic Games non-news has been covered) is completely unwarranted. Everybody knows that around 98% of entrants will pass and that figure will be slightly up on last year. Some students will �only� get Bs, Cs or Ds (when they were confident of As) and be in tears, but they will still go on to three years of further education (which might just about bring them up to the A-Level standard of 50 years ago).
It�s not news, it�s just something the government wants us to hear to make us believe standards are rising.
MP: "You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. And when we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!"
GC: "Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!"
TG: "Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife."
JC: "Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of freezing cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would murder us in cold blood, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
GC: "Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!"
TG: "Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife."
JC: "Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of freezing cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would murder us in cold blood, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."
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100% agree with you anotheoldgit. I would also recommend decreasing the school leaving age back to 14 and getting kids into apprenticeships early, which would give them something to strive for and stop them mischief making because they are 'bored' with school (underestandably). But no, they now talk about increasing the school leaving age to 18!
Poor Quinlad......such a horrible upbringing.....at least he lived to tell us!
The uni path is a conspiracy between the banks & Govt to glean debts from the young and keep them beholden.....without any guarantees of employability.
Artisans are needed most in UK today and hopefully our young intelligencia will explore these avenues.
The uni path is a conspiracy between the banks & Govt to glean debts from the young and keep them beholden.....without any guarantees of employability.
Artisans are needed most in UK today and hopefully our young intelligencia will explore these avenues.
I see they're talking about creating a new grade that's higher than A, to try and inject some meaning back into the grading system. It's called A*. Presumably after that we'll need A** and so on. Perhaps we'll need to invent a whole new letter at some point that comes before A in the alphabet.
Surely a less stupid thing to do would be to adjust the bandings so that A is still the highest but you need more marks to achieve it.
Surely a less stupid thing to do would be to adjust the bandings so that A is still the highest but you need more marks to achieve it.
This is August. Famously, nothing happens in August (except the odd Caucasus war), which means news media struggle to fill their pages or airtime. Predictable events like exam results therefore get predictably wide coverage. The Telegraph is particularly fond of photos of twins celebrating, though I don't know whether they found any this time.
However, the CBI disagrees strongly with you on what the country needs, and has expressed fears that Britons will be left just pouring the concrete in projects that better-qualified foreign nationals have intitiated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/educa tion/article4500168.ece
However, the CBI disagrees strongly with you on what the country needs, and has expressed fears that Britons will be left just pouring the concrete in projects that better-qualified foreign nationals have intitiated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/educa tion/article4500168.ece
A very worthwhile job though pouring concrete as are all the other similar types of jobs that we need people to do. It's about time that people doing these sort of jobs were not made to feel as if they have failed, or that University is something that everybody ought to aim for. Unfortunately, a degree does not mean very much these days.
Come on, let them scream and giggle they have worked hard! I haven't got a qualification to my name, my daughter has just gained 3 A levels... 2A's and a B. I'm so proud of her, I have watched her stay in so many nights revising, I've had to shout at her to stop! She also has a part time job. in a shop .... I would rather hear them squel with delight than see them drunk in the street. I also agree with trade skills they are all important. And I'm sure they jump up and down screaming too! And it's only once a year you have to listen to them! So give them a break.
We need an insentive for kids to do apprenticeships in e.g. plumbing/ electrical / building trade/ farming jobs. Eastern Europeans are lapping it up (quite rightly in my opinion) because nobody in the UK like taking manual jobs, which can be lucrative money wise. Too late to get into a heavy debate so night night!
Apparently one of the main reasons why grades continually get better is due to the fact that coursework can be repeated.
A teacher said yesterday that by repeatinf coursework is is quite easy to go from a Grade d to a B.
Anyway someone has 5 A levels and a worthless degree, don't mean they can spell or even communicate at a basic level.
A teacher said yesterday that by repeatinf coursework is is quite easy to go from a Grade d to a B.
Anyway someone has 5 A levels and a worthless degree, don't mean they can spell or even communicate at a basic level.
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