Wednesday 8 April 2009

Without Qualification

David Lammy is beyond parody. Apparently, the ridiculous A-level A*, brought in by the Government, should not be used to distinguish the brightest university applicants, since that would favour private schools! The real tragedy is that he is right.

Last month, Manchester Grammar School splendidly gave up GCSEs. Margaret Thatcher, Destroyer of the Grammar Schools (it is thanks to her that somewhere called Manchester Grammar School is no longer in the state sector), went on to ruin my life by replacing O-levels with GCSEs. And even A-levels have gone on to be more and more modelled on these totally non-academic qualifications, which mark people down if their answers are “too sophisticated”. They have also been turned into nothing more than university entrance exams, not originally even their primary purpose.

That I know anything much at all is because of teachers – old grammar school, and I should add often very left-wing economically – who decided to fill up the vast amount of lesson time left over after covering that day’s GCSE material by actually teaching us anything. But I know that I shall be struggling to fill in the gaps for the rest of my life.

Bring back O-levels.

Denounce Thatcher, and bring back both O-levels, and grammar schools, and proper A-levels.

As, of course, the Thatcher-worshipping Tories cannot do.

Any more than David Lammy can.

1 comment:

  1. That's one point but surely the bigger point is what happens to those without 'merit' in our supposed meritocracy. Do they even exist? Or can more or less anyone be made good? Would the very best private schools be able to turn otherwise doomed children into academic demons?(Genuine question, I don't know)

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