results

it is that time of year when the exam results are released.

shall i tell you what i have learnt about those results?
as if i had to ask, i know you are hanging on my every word.

this is what i have learnt.

students of comprehensive schools – only get their gcses and a-levels because the exams are so much easier than they were in my day (my day being whenever the commentator took them). these exams are not worth the paper they are printed on. they are just given to any tom dick and harriet. they are not about rewarding excellence they are all about mediocrity. the pass standard is so easy to get – it is all about getting the results because of league tables.

students from grammar schools get their gcses and a-levels because they have studied hard, they have been taught well, and they are a credit to the nation. the exams they sit are so much harder than the ones i did in my day. it is all about rewarding excellence, the pass standard is high and each one shows the true benefit of a good education.

quite why most of the commentators don’t say what they want to say, “we don’t want billy estate kid to get good results and go to university as it means he might not doff his cap to henry posh bloke any more”, is beyond me.
they just don’t like the fact that kids from ordinary schools can get decent pass marks and set themselves on the road to betterment (yeah yeah i know the tory party and the rest of the right make noises about social mobility, but they only really mean it as long as none of theirs is left behind). rather than sing the praises of the kids who have worked hard to make the grade the commentators will endeavour to make the claim that the current exam system is flawed and easy, yet at the same time chuffing on about how wonderful grammar schools are for getting some of the highest pass marks in the land.

frankly if the grades are easy to come by you might think that rich parents might want to save some cash and just send richard the rich boy to his local school, after all he is guaranteed to get high grades.

and if i am a public or grammar school i am not sure i would want to be crowing about my ability to get pass marks on piss poor exams.
(but what am i talking about in some cases they can have their cake and eat it, and they do).

or could it be that this is just the story the media like to trot out every year around about now?

you decide.