Indi, you've obviously missed the wealth of evidence and quotes that the exams are infact easier.
The knowledge and techniques required to gain an A are definitely a lot slacker now compared to 20 years ago.
Quotes are meaningless, show me some evidence - more people achieving an A is not evidence, by the way.
where did I say the greater number of A's was evidence?
and quotes are meaningless? quotes from people who deal with the exams year on year? quotes from people who know what they're talking about?
you are aware that exams are run by a quango, that has a performance measure that includes pass rates?
I didn't say you did, Vic, it was a pre-emptive statement not a reaction to what you had said.
Do you mean quotes like these, then:
"Despite the received wisdom of those who seek to detract from the achievements of our young people, research shows their performance is improving. Some people will always hark back to 'the good old days'.
Sentimentality has its role, but I do not believe that role is to denigrate the hard work and efforts of the nation's children. Moreover, research shows that the so-called golden age is as mythical as Jason and the Argonauts." -
Alan Johnson MP (Education Secretary)"There's no doubt that A-levels have changed significantly over the past 20 years, but there is no evidence to suggest that they have become any easier.
Each year, the awarding bodies follow procedures that have been independently acknowledged to be among the best in the world and are designed to ensure that standards do not change.
Critics are often quick to run A-levels down, but rarely acknowledge that half of the national increase in the number of passes simply mirrors the growth in the number of 18-year-olds in the past 10 years. The remainder of the increase is only equivalent to about two extra candidates passing each subject in an average school or college.
The increase in the number of students awarded an A grade is only equivalent to one or two extra students getting the top grade in each subject for an average school or college.
There's no point arguing whether some exams are easier than others; there's a great deal more choice now and students - as they always have - will choose the subjects at which they expect to do best." -
Dr Mike Cresswell, director-general of the exam board AQA."It isn't that the exam has got easier, and I think it is unfair on youngsters to suggest that. In terms of more people getting A grades, it is a bit like a thermometer when the outside temperature exceeds the top of the scale. You could say, with A-levels, that the thermometer has been lengthened at the bottom but not at the top." -
Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University's Centre for Education and Employment Research.Are those the kind of quotes you're on about?
