I know of three people who did poorly at A-Level, got on to soft degree courses, managed to scrape a poor pass and then struggled for years to find any employment because they wanted to walk straight in to a �30k a year job....in the early 90s!
Personally, I'd vote for a two tier system: tier one would be those students who have opted for academic A-Levels, passed an entry test for their university of choice and then gone on to study for a 'proper' degree.
Second tier would be for those who have gone for soft A-Levels and soft degrees (Medya studies, kitchen design, Beckham studies, art etc...).
I believe we have a problem in this country with science students - how can we encourage our current crop of 16 years olds to study science instead of Medya studies and psychology???
When I went it was considered an honour - it strikes me that nowadays, along with so many other things, people consider it a right: which is why we see so many stories that degree holders cannot find work - we have too many university students.
Now personally, having just had a load of plumbing work done at home, if I'd've had the gist of foresight I would have trained to be a plumber! Should we be actively promoting trade apprenticeships?