A-Levels
As thousands of Britons wait nervously to see which of the Times, Telegraph and Mail can find the largest number of pretty blond 18yr old girls celebrating 5 or 6 A-grade A-levels, the usual debate about the dumbing down of the exam is underway.This debate is rather tiresome. When I sat my A-Levels in 1993 it was already an annual thing, much like the FA Cup final. In a sense of course the exams have got easier, much like the most other things get easier over time, because people get better at them.
Thus one could even say the increase in the pass rate tells us that children today are much better at passing an A-level than they were 10 years' ago, not that they are that much cleverer. And this even doesn't of course mean that the exams shouldn't be replaced, much like javelins in the 1990s were made harder to throw when athletes were threatening to chuck them out of the ground.
posted by Matthew @ 8/17/2005 12:44:00 PM
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