Dunces all of a sudden

[Bazile]

So is this years crop of students sitting GCSE not as bright as those previously
or has political pressure being put on examining boards to ' halt ' the previous upward trend


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19349444

[factor-fiction]

And whilst I agree with most of flipflop's comments i don't agree that Media Studies and Psychology are easy options- certainly not if you aim for an A or A*

The subject that worries me is English. I have seen students who are classed as grade B material who cannot write a sentence or spell common words. I have mentioned before I think that I was covering grade B English class and a student asked me how to spell a common word- I recall it was something like "'used'. So I passed her a dictionary but after a few minutes she gave up saying she couldn't find it. I then pointed out that she needed to look under U not Y.

[factor-fiction]

^"When I was at grammar school my 'O' level results were among the best in the school, with all 6 passed, mainly at grades A and B. In comparison with current results, however, my grades look poor. "

I wouldn't have passed a typing exam: I meant to type "all 8 passed".

[flip_flop]

I have been fooled Jake - I was unaware there is a two tier system.

The only reason I called psychology a soft option is because my younger sister did GCSE psychology, and reading her text book at the time, it looked like an absolute piece of cake - things may, of course, have moved on.

[youngmafbog]

Media Studies and psychology are softer options, compared to Maths/Chemistry and Physics.

We should concentrate less on quantity and more on quality. Vocational training from 14 (ie actually leave school and do an apprenticeship paid for with the money that would have been used for the schooling) should also be a valued option. I know this is not in keeping with your trendy liberals but we need to get real. Degrees are not the be all and end all, definitely required in some cases but three are many where getting out and doing it would be far more beneficial.

I don't have one [degree] but I earn a big salary and have worked in other countries including getting a H21B for the US.