GCSE Results

[Sing up the Jarrold 0]

As a former teacher, I have to admit that all the way from Key Stage 1 SATS up to A-level the nation''s schools and teachers have figured out how to get students to jump through the hoops required to get high test scores. And with the pressure to achieve in the Government''s league tables, who can blame them? Fail and you will be publicly stigmatised. That is what has "raised standards" and devalued the assessments.

It has also resulted in a generation of students arriving at universities without the ability to learn for themselves and expecting to be spoon fed.

 

[Buncey 1]

[quote user="Marty"]

Surely the competition is higher since more people want to go there? Also, there is a far higher emphasis on university education from the governement.

[/quote]Yes of course that''s true. And as such you have to do more and more to secure top university places. There is more emphasis on university education (which I don''t agree with) but it''s simply being seen as alternative to apprenticeships. A lot of my friends would benefit more from apprenticeships than university education but they just can''t get them. Some of my friends are lucky and have very good placements. But there is a lack of places.

[Evil Monkey 52]

[quote user="I. Shurmer"]The fact of the matter is that universities are now run as businesses rather than educational institutes. This is, IMO, because the Government have decided it is far better to have a p****-measuring statistic like "xx% of our young people go on to university" than actually focus on suitably targeted vocational/non-vocational courses.

The upshot of this is that you get a lot of people going to university who simply should not be going to university, whether it be that a vocational course is more suitable to their planned career, or they simply do not have the ability. This ends up with a large percentage graduates who get crap degrees, in crap incomparable subjects, or have to drop out (but still ending up in debt).

The fact that GCSE/A level pass rates (I think) keep increasing are another example of the statistics culture of this Government. Do we honestly believe that a) standards are increasing, and b) young people are getting cleverer - or is it more spin to make it look (from the outside) look like educational standards are increasing? I''m not so sure myself, but have no direct experience of this so can''t accurately comment.

The upshot of this is that it is far, FAR easier to get into university than it should be, and this is actively encouraged by a Government who aren''t really interested in quality of higher education and graduates, but more shovelling their latest statistic through the system.
[/quote]

I would say this is far, particularly in relation to your point about some students being at University when they really shouldn''t be... But its not all down to the Government, don''t forget that many kids are pushed into University by their parents who expect them to make something of themselves or they don''t want them to "go down the route I did and get a job at 15" kind of thing.  When I ask people why they came to Uni, its often met with a shrug of the shoulders, and so many people I know complain that they don''t enjoy their course its unreal.  They don''t know why they''re there, and they don''t enjoy what they''re doing, so what motivation is there to work hard?

As long as those statistics show that our kids are getting smarter and the University admissions are up, who cares whether they''re doing a degree they''ll benefit from or enjoy, right?

School-leaving teenagers should be encouraged to find their way and their place in the world rather than shoe-horning them all into a University education.  Vocational courses, scholarships, apprenticeships, degrees, or just a job - they should all be treated as options in my opinion... instead those who leave school and get a job straight away are often viewed as "inferior" because they''ve not got a degree, whereas in reality, in three of four years'' time, they''re far more likely to have found their place then someone who''s spent their time in bed eating Pot Noodles...

[Sing up the Jarrold 0]

[quote user="I. Shurmer"]

School-leaving teenagers should be encouraged to find their way and their place in the world rather than shoe-horning them all into a University education.  Vocational courses, scholarships, apprenticeships, degrees, or just a job - they should all be treated as options in my opinion... instead those who leave school and get a job straight away are often viewed as "inferior" because they''ve not got a degree, whereas in reality, in three of four years'' time, they''re far more likely to have found their place then someone who''s spent their time in bed eating Pot Noodles...

[/quote]

Hear Hear

[Marty 0]

[quote user="Fellas"][quote user="Marty"]

Surely the competition is higher since more people want to go there? Also, there is a far higher emphasis on university education from the governement.

[/quote]

Yes of course that''s true. And as such you have to do more and more to secure top university places. There is more emphasis on university education (which I don''t agree with) but it''s simply being seen as alternative to apprenticeships. A lot of my friends would benefit more from apprenticeships than university education but they just can''t get them. Some of my friends are lucky and have very good placements. But there is a lack of places.
[/quote]

I agree totally about the lack of options such as apprenticeships, it is a really poor situation that the governement shoould look into.

 

[jimidack 0]

I did my GCSEs back in 2002, I found the exams easy...but the results proved otherwise, that was at time of transition where they were rumoured to get easier so my selection was 3 B''s 6 C''s and an E. I was disappointed considering one was drama and then 2 years later I got an AB in double A Level Performing Arts and now have a degree in Drama to suit, so I don''t think they are getting easier but then again I can''t remember much from 2002 as I have been very drunk many times since then.

[Shyster 0]

A good start would be for the Government to put a cap on immigration.

[Syteanric 1]

what gets me is that every time the exam results are made public some bigwig in a suit who went to school when they still called you by your last name appears on TV and says "Exams are getting easier, its a disgrace.. back in my day...."

Talk about giving someone the metophorical "punch in the Stomach"... why not give the kids the credit they deserve? How about students getting better results because they are working harder? theres more incentive like EMA? or people are just getting more intelligent?

No wonder society fails.. not all kids are chav wearing hooligans.. perhaps if we encouraged our childrent instead of listening to some wesinster Twat talk b****cks other youngsters might be spurred into doing well reather than wondering "whats the point".

 We fail our youth... and saying "exams are getting easier" is basically peeing on 2 years hard work and effort by some students.

jas :)

[StokeCanary 0]

I am in 100% agreement with Evil Monkey - I can''t stand the tax dodgers! You can get into uni with key skills nowadays...it''s a farce and the only thing being created is a load of dillusional young idiots who think cos they did a media degree at mickey mouse polytechnic they will be head of the BBC in ''a couple of years''!!!  [^o)]

[jimidack 0]

[quote user="StokeCanary"]I am in 100% agreement with Evil Monkey - I can''t stand the tax dodgers! You can get into uni with key skills nowadays...it''s a farce and the only thing being created is a load of dillusional young idiots who think cos they did a media degree at mickey mouse polytechnic they will be head of the BBC in ''a couple of years''!!!  [^o)][/quote]

 

Well having just been a tax dodger and got on to my respected course with the needed skills (ie I can act a little) I feel thats a touch harsh but then again with a degree in David Beckham available at one university it does take the mick a touch!

[Marty 0]

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]

what gets me is that every time the exam results are made public some bigwig in a suit who went to school when they still called you by your last name appears on TV and says "Exams are getting easier, its a disgrace.. back in my day...."

Talk about giving someone the metophorical "punch in the Stomach"... why not give the kids the credit they deserve? How about students getting better results because they are working harder? theres more incentive like EMA? or people are just getting more intelligent?

No wonder society fails.. not all kids are chav wearing hooligans.. perhaps if we encouraged our childrent instead of listening to some wesinster Twat talk b****cks other youngsters might be spurred into doing well reather than wondering "whats the point".

 We fail our youth... and saying "exams are getting easier" is basically peeing on 2 years hard work and effort by some students.

jas :)

[/quote]

 

because they are not getting smarter! By awarding them flatteringly high marks we are making them out to be better that they actually are, why big people up only for them to be shot down by the reality of real life. My guess is the the levels of inteligence are the same. Why not make the avergae C? so when too many people get A then invent A*, then what? maybe use alpha next for smarter students. Why not get the average back to C and make people realise that they are average and that this is not a problem and stop pretending that they are all great!

[Evil Monkey 52]

[quote user="StokeCanary"]I am in 100% agreement with Evil Monkey - I can''t stand the tax dodgers! You can get into uni with key skills nowadays...it''s a farce and the only thing being created is a load of dillusional young idiots who think cos they did a media degree at mickey mouse polytechnic they will be head of the BBC in ''a couple of years''!!!  [^o)][/quote]

I''d like to point out at this juncture that I''m also a student, but I spent 6 years at NU wondering what the point was before getting my act together and applying to a mickey mouse polytechnic... but don''t worry, I''m doing a proper degree, no wishy-washy nonsense... [;)]

[StokeCanary 0]

 

Well having just been a tax dodger and got on to my respected course with the needed skills (ie I can act a little) I feel thats a touch harsh but then again with a degree in David Beckham available at one university it does take the mick a touch!

 

Haha! [:D] Don''t get me wrong jimidack, there are still plenty of young people who are very intelligent and rightly go to uni to study ''real'' (i.e medicine, law, economics etc etc) It''s just the imbeciles who go to uni, get about £30k in debt and scrape a 3rd in some s**te like television studies that wind me up!!! [:@]

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Evil Monkey"]

[quote user="I. Shurmer"]The fact of the matter is that universities are now run as businesses rather than educational institutes. This is, IMO, because the Government have decided it is far better to have a p****-measuring statistic like "xx% of our young people go on to university" than actually focus on suitably targeted vocational/non-vocational courses.

The upshot of this is that you get a lot of people going to university who simply should not be going to university, whether it be that a vocational course is more suitable to their planned career, or they simply do not have the ability. This ends up with a large percentage graduates who get crap degrees, in crap incomparable subjects, or have to drop out (but still ending up in debt).

The fact that GCSE/A level pass rates (I think) keep increasing are another example of the statistics culture of this Government. Do we honestly believe that a) standards are increasing, and b) young people are getting cleverer - or is it more spin to make it look (from the outside) look like educational standards are increasing? I''m not so sure myself, but have no direct experience of this so can''t accurately comment.

The upshot of this is that it is far, FAR easier to get into university than it should be, and this is actively encouraged by a Government who aren''t really interested in quality of higher education and graduates, but more shovelling their latest statistic through the system.
[/quote]

I would say this is far, particularly in relation to your point about some students being at University when they really shouldn''t be... But its not all down to the Government, don''t forget that many kids are pushed into University by their parents who expect them to make something of themselves or they don''t want them to "go down the route I did and get a job at 15" kind of thing.  When I ask people why they came to Uni, its often met with a shrug of the shoulders, and so many people I know complain that they don''t enjoy their course its unreal.  They don''t know why they''re there, and they don''t enjoy what they''re doing, so what motivation is there to work hard?

As long as those statistics show that our kids are getting smarter and the University admissions are up, who cares whether they''re doing a degree they''ll benefit from or enjoy, right?

School-leaving teenagers should be encouraged to find their way and their place in the world rather than shoe-horning them all into a University education.  Vocational courses, scholarships, apprenticeships, degrees, or just a job - they should all be treated as options in my opinion... instead those who leave school and get a job straight away are often viewed as "inferior" because they''ve not got a degree, whereas in reality, in three of four years'' time, they''re far more likely to have found their place then someone who''s spent their time in bed eating Pot Noodles...

[/quote]

i agree with your last paragraph EM... a relative of mine works in Recruitment.. alot of people in the industry are slowly starting to see degrees as "pointless" if thats the right term.. I''ll try to explain here.

 Someone who does A Levels and leaves school at 18.. say they get a job they enjoy, bottom rung of the ladder and all that.. working their way up.... A job comes availble 5 years down the line...they are 23, have been doing the job every day for 5 years.. the new position would be a logical step up, along comes some Recent Graduate.. smart suit, slicked hair.. he can talk the talk having spent 5 years in the lecture hall... but he has also spent the last 5 years pulling Pints in the Kings Crotch public house trying to pay his way through his degree...

 Who will an employer favour.. someone with a bit of paper who can talk the talk? or the bod who has been at the company 5 years, showed loyalty, who can already do the job and hit the ground running...

A degree can be the Career killer... yes its nice to have letters after your name but if your working in a post room aged 30 on 10 grand a year then youve wasted that huge part of your life!

jas :)

 

[The Horse 0]

9 A''s, 4 B''s. I don''t care what people say about exams getting easier, maybe people should think perhaps students have worked harder to achieve what they have rather than immediately jumping the gun to "exams were harder back in the day".

[NCFC_Shaun 0]

Well, what an excellent idea. Lets all talk about how GCSE''s are so much easier these days than they used to be in the middle of a thread for students to discuss how they did. Brilliant, really makes us feel so much happier with what we got [:)] you lot are idiots... mind you, im not one to talk as had I have taken them in ''your day'' I would have failed each and every one im sure ...

[king canary 7,578]

Being a so called ''tax dodger'' and also a film student I get quite a bit of this. But the fact is I have worked dam hard for whatI h ave and plan to continue doing it. Its not the degree its the attitude. If someone comes out of a media degree and thinks they will walk strait into the bbc then yes thats poor. But my university has done it damndest to drill into me that I am going to need work experience, placements, low rung jobs if I want to get anywhere, hence why I have spent the last year making tea and doing occasional production work for Future Radio and running the student radio station.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Marty"][quote user="jas the barclay king"]

what gets me is that every time the exam results are made public some bigwig in a suit who went to school when they still called you by your last name appears on TV and says "Exams are getting easier, its a disgrace.. back in my day...."

Talk about giving someone the metophorical "punch in the Stomach"... why not give the kids the credit they deserve? How about students getting better results because they are working harder? theres more incentive like EMA? or people are just getting more intelligent?

No wonder society fails.. not all kids are chav wearing hooligans.. perhaps if we encouraged our childrent instead of listening to some wesinster Twat talk b****cks other youngsters might be spurred into doing well reather than wondering "whats the point".

 We fail our youth... and saying "exams are getting easier" is basically peeing on 2 years hard work and effort by some students.

jas :)

[/quote]

 

because they are not getting smarter! By awarding them flatteringly high marks we are making them out to be better that they actually are, why big people up only for them to be shot down by the reality of real life. My guess is the the levels of inteligence are the same. Why not make the avergae C? so when too many people get A then invent A*, then what? maybe use alpha next for smarter students. Why not get the average back to C and make people realise that they are average and that this is not a problem and stop pretending that they are all great!

[/quote]

why arent they all Marty? Are they all underage drinking, tracksuit wearing teenage mums? some of these youngsters work Damn hard and get the rewards for it...

 If you went into work and your boss came up to you and said "you can only do your job because it is easy" wouldnt that make you feel de valued? youd sit there thinking "whats the bloody point, i''ve got no incentive now.. ive been told a monkey could do my job so why should i care"? its the same for these kids...

Sure some of them dont give a toss.... but then thats the same for adults too... in all walks of life.

take the same situation and have boss man coming up to you and saying "well done chap.. the jobs got progressively harder over the years but you have met the challenge and developed and made it look easy" and you''d feel a right billy Big spuds wouldnt you?

 

Students can only do their best... we should all out be in the street celebrating not running their efforts down. Lets all give up school at 14 and not bother with GCSE''s then shall we.. after all.. they are easy.. we can get by in life without them!

jas :)

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="BarclayChuck"]9 A''s, 4 B''s.
I don''t care what people say about exams getting easier, maybe people should think perhaps students have worked harder to achieve what they have rather than immediately jumping the gun to "exams were harder back in the day".
[/quote]

spot on young man! well done with the results too!

jas :)

[Buncey 1]

[quote user="Marty"][quote user="jas the barclay king"]

what gets me is that every time the exam results are made public some bigwig in a suit who went to school when they still called you by your last name appears on TV and says "Exams are getting easier, its a disgrace.. back in my day...."

Talk about giving someone the metophorical "punch in the Stomach"... why not give the kids the credit they deserve? How about students getting better results because they are working harder? theres more incentive like EMA? or people are just getting more intelligent?

No wonder society fails.. not all kids are chav wearing hooligans.. perhaps if we encouraged our childrent instead of listening to some wesinster Twat talk b****cks other youngsters might be spurred into doing well reather than wondering "whats the point".

 We fail our youth... and saying "exams are getting easier" is basically peeing on 2 years hard work and effort by some students.

jas :)

[/quote]

 

because they are not getting smarter! By awarding them flatteringly high marks we are making them out to be better that they actually are, why big people up only for them to be shot down by the reality of real life. My guess is the the levels of inteligence are the same. Why not make the avergae C? so when too many people get A then invent A*, then what? maybe use alpha next for smarter students. Why not get the average back to C and make people realise that they are average and that this is not a problem and stop pretending that they are all great!

[/quote]C is still the average grade. The percentage of students who got A grades (in state schools) in 2006 was 17.9%. Exactly what should be expected. Only 7% of state school students get 3 A''s at A level. Hardly a crisis.

[Buncey 1]

I''d just like to add congratualtions to all the students who got their GCSE results today. I hope you all did really good and better than you expected.

[The Fish Seller 0]

I only dun maths an Ingerlish GCSAs.I got a B* in numeracysand 9 in spellink.Hope my 10 O levels is enuff for me to get into yewny.

[jimidack 0]

Yes me too, well done to all! Then like me you can all become fully qualified bar tenders and box office sales people!

[Gingerpele 0]

i got mine3 Bs,7 Cs and one D (i got two Cs in english)

[Chip20 69]

I''d like to add my congratulations to those who got the results they wanted today.

As for exams getting easier; I couldn''t say with any confidence one way or the other. They were saying the same thing back in 1993 and 1995 when I did my GCSEs and A-Levels respectively.

One factor I don''t think has been raised in this thread yet is ithe ready access to information compared to twenty years ago. I am continually studying as part of my work and I must say I find it so much easier to do so now than I did at school. I didn''t find much enjoyment in trawling the library, struggling to find relevant books. Cross-referencing, in particular, was a major chore. Now there are so many guides, sources of info, multiple perspectives, explanations in layman''s terms (instead of the gobbledegook some teachers used to use) available in one place on a laptop computer (or even flippin'' mobile phone these days). I find getting to grips with a subject so much easier now because if one explanation doesn''t make much sense to me I can find another, and, if needs be, yet another with a few clicks of a mouse. I struggled to get to grips with English grammar because I didn''t understand the way my teachers explained it (and possibly because I''m a bit thick), but I have found it so much easier to learn since I could look ''better'' explanations up online. Modern technology makes learning more accessible, in my opinion.

What concerns me when people suggest looking at older papers is that it is not directly comparable because we are not taught the syllabus for both generations of paper. There is no way to directly compare the two. Would 16 year olds back in 1970 really have got better marks at the end of their two years of study if they had been taught the 1968-70 syllabus then been faced with a 2008 paper than if they had been faced with a paper covering the stuff they were actually taught?

 

[taintedtom2000 0]

[quote user="SnakePit Lassy"]

Hmm mine aint good.

4''c''s,

and the rest are ds and 1 e.

:(:(

Congrats to everyone else who got good ones (Y) x

[/quote]

 

Bulls**t , welldone snakepitlassy!! its only the media that tell you they''re not good! they are all passes and count just as much as A8 when employers ask for "5 A-C''s" again..WELLDONE!!

[Erik Fuglestad 0]

i got 2 b''s 3 c''s 2 d''s 1 e and 1 g lol

but got what i wanted :D

[Dionysus 0]

The coursework option makes exams much easier now. When I did mine, most were 100% exam at the end of the 2-year course. If you weren''t very good at exams then you were bu****ed.

[7rew 0]

[quote user="StokeCanary"]Well having just been a tax dodger and got on to my respected course with the needed skills (ie I can act a little) I feel thats a touch harsh but then again with a degree in David Beckham available at one university it does take the mick a touch! [/quote]There isn''t a degree in David Beckham. There is a module that takes David Beckham (who is a media phenomonon, lets face it) as a case study at one university.On the spoon feeding of british students:  I currently mark university scripts at Manchester University (the real one [:P]) and am also involved in hands on teaching of first year students.  The attitude of thinking for yourself is much better among the british students than the foreign ones.  The general standard of the foreign students is also lower since the university get more fees for foreign students.  This is also the reason that the attitude is bad, many of the foreigners have the "I''m paying 10k - 20k per year for this degree, you give it to me without me putting in the effort.Just to cheer up some of the young uns, my GCSE results from 2000 were:  2A*, 4A, 3B, 1C, 1E.Any results that get you on to A-levels are enough to go as far as you want academically. Anything that doesn''t stop you getting an interview is good enough otherwise.

[Evil Monkey 52]

Firstly, well done to everyone for their marks, although this thread has turned into a small and interesting debate, it was intended purely as a celebration!  Don''t be down if you didn''t do as well as can be expected, its a long life and a big old world and there''s plenty of time to make your mark, the point of what I''ve been driving at all afternoon is that you don''t always need a piece of paper with a grade on to make you feel like you''ve achieved something...

Secondly... seriously, what''s happened to CT??