Britain getting cleverer

@toybulldog wrote:

I see what you’re saying panda but in truth . . . .

Today’s kids are Thick to the Power of 10, and I don’t even blame them for that. As if they’d even understand . . . . . . . .

Forget about the commercial realities that pay their wages – they’re still complaining that mum hasn’t arrived to pick them up at the end of the shift. You’ll find that most firms can put up with general gormlessness or a very low retardation level if some essence of enthusiam remained, but it’s increasingly difficult to even discern that.

The hopeless generation . . . . . . . . . .

I think every generation has its hopeless element but it’s applied to the whole. No doubt my generation was the hopeless generation by my parents standards and their generation hopeless as well by their parent’s standards.

Problem is it’s the previous generation that begats the next so as I don’t have kids, I’m not responsible so I guess if QM, Poli and you have kids then you’re the ones to blame for the gormless hopelessness of this generation. :wink:

I went to a boys’ public school and left school in the early 1970’s. In those days an A and two B’s would have got you into Oxford or Cambridge – although they imposed further hurdles like their own entrance exams plus Oxford insisted on Latin O level (equivalent of GCSE) as well, regardless of your chosen course!

I got into a top University with A, C, D and E in my A level subjects, and was offered places at others. In the end I didn’t pursue the course in question, but now I’d need probably at least three A’s to get to those places.

I have a theory as to why boys, who used to do better than girls, now do worse. Computer games addiction. I’ve seen this myself in my extended family – teenage boys spending all their waking hours gaming, even when exams were imminent. Seeing them go down from being high academic achievers to disappointment.

I also think that these generous grades are being given in arts and other ‘soft’ subjects. From what I’ve heard, getting an A in Maths or Physics is pretty much as difficult as it used to be.

Who or what do I blame? I’m not going to blame one political party or another, it’s more to do with society. We used to design and make things here and export them all around the world. Now we rely on financial services, tourism, heritage and until recently, ever-rising property prices.

I also think ending the grammar school system has adversely affected the brighter students. But that had its faults too as, while it benefited bright pupils, it wrote off the keen ones who just missed getting through the 11 Plus exam to a rudimentary education.

@quiet_man wrote:

@gazlan wrote:

My little association with some of the local youth recently, tells me that these kids are right on the ball…They know far more than they ever did, why ?…Because of the technology available to them, they can now witness virtually live, activities and expressions from around the world in seconds….. They are indeed waking up, they have discovered that it`s not just them that think -people were not put on this earth to be manipulated and enslaved by an hereditary eliteism, they are aware that those who profess social justice and equality do so with one hand in the till and the other hand signing money generating statutes to further corporate requests- …. GTFO..
Let me tell you, the stuff them kids are smoking out there has the power to bend the most intellectual of minds, the concern is which way the mind is bent… These were sensible kids with their fingers on the pulse… The world and all of it`s dirt is wide open now for their scrutiny, dont be alarmed when they turn round and tell you to shut the f~uck up

If you wish to delude yourself that kids are getting smarter rather than exams getting easier, knock yourself out.

here’s a nice graph for you.

Once again, rather like tractor stats in the Soviet Union, the glorious march towards genetic perfection and the source of all knowledge continues apace. At least according to the numbers.

A hearty well done to everyone who took them and especially well done to those who are heading to the University of their choice. Unfortunately you’re always going to be tarred, on the evidence of the graph above, that “ours” were harder than “yours”.

I looked at your graph. What it actually shows me is that in the 60s though to the mid 80s, A Levels at grade A hovered around the 9% mark. From the late 80s there was an increase up to about 12 – 13 %.

Under John Major this then increased to over 15 %.

Sharp, year on year increases occurred during the Blair and Brown years, rising to 28% this year.

So what that tells me is that investment in education under Blair and Brown seems to have worked and produced better educated A Level students.

Of course you won’t see it that way – you appear to be somewhat bitter and twisted and want to blame the Labour govt for making exams easier.

But hang on! The increases started under Thatcher, then continued under Major.

So it looks like your beloved Tories started the trend of easier A Levels, huh?
:D/

Private (Public) schools generally get better A-Level results than state schools and colleges. What’s more, I think it’s true to say, the gap between the two has been widening – even under Labour’s recent investments that have coincided with rising state school results.