When is an 'A' good enough?

In the UK we have just had the public examinations for school leavers posted. Results determine the university course you get admitted onto, and as usual it brings up the debate that exams are getting easier and therefore more meaningless. The latest batch of results makes for interesting observation:

24.1% of students received a grade A pass, up 1.3% on last year
8.5% of passes were at grade A in 1965, this year 2006 grade A’s accounted for 22.8% of passes.
25.3% of girls and 22.7% of boys achieved at least one grade A (usually students take 3 or 4 subjects)

The universities are in uproar. With so many high flyers how are they meant to work out whom the most promising students are? A reluctance to introduce a quota system in determining grades means that if trends continue more young people will be exiting our secondary education system with top grades and more and more universities will be forced to introduce their own assessments for student entry.

Whilst the debate continues between educationalists, students remain indignant – they along with their educators have put in the effort and come up with the goods. Ridderstrale & Nordstrom (2004) suggest that with increased technology comes increased talent. In the new information age we live in can we be so surprised that young people are finding it easier to jump through the academic hoops that we place in front of them? Is this not simply part of the academic evolutionary process at work. Advances in thinking, teaching and information sharing must lead us to the natural conclusion that our young people are becoming more developed in their thinking. Maybe the old institutions of our university system needs to sit up and take note that this generation will not be satisfied with playing the game as before, increasing numbers are picking up the ball and inventing their own game and inviting others to join in. Perhaps the ‘seats’ of learning have more to lose in these days of educational advancement? Well done to all those who received their results today.

Ref:

The Times – Friday 18th August 2006
Karaoke Capitalism – 2004 Jonas Ridderstrale, Kjell A. Nordstrom