GCSE students have an average reading age of 10/11 and many can't even read

[Mecky]

If education is so bad why does the current government want to fail even more people?

[Chris_Sleeps]

Another of those topics for people to push their own bogeymen into.

 

It was the Teachers.

It was the Parents.

It was Thatcher.

It was Blair.

It was the Unions.

It was anti-elitism.

 

It's too big to pin down.

[truman]

If education is so bad why does the current government want to fail even more people?

 

There's the answer.. lower the marking threshold and give everyone a pass and suddenly the population is more intelligent..can't think why it wasn't done earlier...

[puisseguin]

If education is so bad why does the current government want to fail even more people?

 

Shouldn't the idea be to raise standards rather than simply passing more people?

[Mecky]

Shouldn't the idea be to raise standards rather than simply passing more people?

 

Raise standards? If you deliberately fail people, like in last year's exams, for which someone needs sacking, it does not encourage them to do better; they just think, "What's the point." So you're saying you want people to do better year after year but still call them thick?

[Happ Hazzard]

People who can't read should not be passing exams.

[metalman]

Raise standards? If you deliberately fail people, like in last year's exams, for which someone needs sacking, it does not encourage them to do better; they just think, "What's the point." So you're saying you want people to do better year after year but still call them thick?

 

So you're saying you want people to pass all their exams with excellent grades even though they can't actually do anything?

[Lucy-Lastic]

People who can't read should not be passing exams.

 

:-o Passing exams is all about showing that you understand and can apply material that has been taught, to a certain standard. Are you saying that someone with a disability (e.g. dyslexia or blindness) should be precluded from being able to prove that they are indeed able to apply their knowledge?

[puisseguin]

:-o Passing exams is all about showing that you understand and can apply material that has been taught, to a certain standard. Are you saying that someone with a disability (e.g. dyslexia or blindness) should be precluded from being able to prove that they are indeed able to apply their knowledge?

 

People with genuine disabilities are able to get a reader to read questions for them, and a writer to write the answer. That is somewhat different from a survey finding normal able bodied students unable to read and write.

 

If I'm on a plane I want to know that the mechanics who look after it have genuine qualifications and are capable of reading the service manual, and don't simply have qualifications handed out to make up the numbers.

[Conrod]

So you're saying you want people to pass all their exams with excellent grades even though they can't actually do anything?

We're half way there already - clearly some people are very happy for us to head towards that situation as long as it means various departments can claim from their perfomance tables that all is well.