the meltdowns last week made me laugh
went to see "posh" last night, thoroughly recommend it. excellent play. nicely cynical. this also made me laugh.

alt: they dumb down the exams every single year and then they wonder why kids don't know shit. duuuuh. also, scrap the crap universities and the pointless degrees.

altalt: we went to cornwall when i was very little, but other than that, always abroad. i'm going to my house in cornwall for the first time this september, though. woo.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:44, 1 reply, 13 years ago)

i don't want to be argumentative,
but is there any evidence for the exams being dumbed down?
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:50, Reply)

A man in the pub has assured me that this is the case, so it's a firm YES.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:52, Reply)

The fact that the pass rate has increased every single year since time began and dinosaurs were much better at calculus than today's "media savvy" youths.

(Bazongaloid, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:53, Reply)

i wonder if its that the exams have got easier,
or the teachers are now teching kids how to pass exams, rather than teaching them broad knowledge about their subject.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:54, Reply)

The teachers are all paedos and the kids are dirty slags who love it.
There's a lad on here who is retraining to be a teacher for this very reason.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:56, Reply)

really?
i'm sure that's not his entire reason is it?
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:58, Reply)

I think he's also keen on the long holidays

( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:59, Reply)

+ pies

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:01, Reply)

how fat?

( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:05, Reply)

true lad fat

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:11, Reply)

It is, he's so disgustingly obese and ugly that his only chance to get some is to force a child onto his junk.
You'd think he would try and improve his lot, but no, he keeps getting tattoos of cartons on his back to attract more kiddies.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:00, Reply)

i'd like to meet this fellow,
and give him a kick up the bonce.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:02, Reply)

What, cartons of milk and stuff?
The sneaky peaedo git. Kids LOVE milk.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:07, Reply)

Also he'll get free parking.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:04, Reply)

little bit from column a
little bit from column b.

I've seen no evidence that the kids are getting less able once they get to uni, though. I've not particularly changed the content of my courses or exams over the last 6 years and the pass rate has stayed similar.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:02, Reply)

i think on the whole comparing university to school is pointless,
university is almost completely filled by people who want to learn (maybe after a bit of a party in their first year) where as schools have to contend with trouble pupils and disrupted classes and yet still provide pass rates and hit targets.
I think maybe whats his fac up their is right and we should just go back to grammar schools and the 11+ and start training the little road sweepers nice and early.
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 11:05, Reply)

With their 'wap phones' and 'BMX' bicycles.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:55, Reply)

i'm not gonna lie to you, i can't really back that up with statistics
but anecdotally my brother is a headmaster and on the board for one of the examining boards, and he says so. for one example, latin has lost the requirement to translate english into latin, which is a million times harder than the other way round.

but be argumentative if you like.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:55, Reply)

you may well be right,
but it would seem a silly thing to do, as i'm sure the teachers and exam boards have targets for pass rates etc, if they keep making it easier, eventually everyone gets A* and then what?
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:57, Reply)

I remember taking previous years papers at GCSE, for practise purposes
The final exam was never as hard as those.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:58, Reply)