Would anyone tell me if I was getting...stupider?

[davywavy]

Reading the newspaper the other day, I came across a piece which said that University admissions tutors were decrying the decline in educational standards represented by A-level grades. For example, one claim they were making was that work of a standard which would have recieved an "F" (fail) grade 15 years ago was now routinely being awarded a "C" grade, and that this was making the task of identifying good quality students capable of benefitting from university education increasingly difficult - especially in the light of central government initiatives to do away with separate University entrance exams - and that all exam grades were being marked up in a similar fashion.
Some people might be shocked by this decline in educational standards, but as usual I see it as an opportunity. I'm going to be asking the exam board for my 15-year old A-level grades to be reclassified in line with this dumbing down process. This will transform my educational achievements from the lacklustre selection of middling grades that they currently are to four A* grades, which should in turn help me get into a decent university rather than the Mickey Mouse establishment I actually attended.
And I'll deserve it just as much as anyone.

Comments

Re: oops

[lareinemisere.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just me being over-sensitive, but I was attempting to suggest some reasons for the disparities in the figures, not intending to annoy people and start an argument about who has a harder time. Apologies for any upset.

I certainly wasn't attempting to suggest that no private sector worker ever has contact with the public, or that they never have any grief from them (I was a barmaid when I was a student!). What I was meaning was that a lot of public sector jobs involve dealing with very difficult people on a very regular basis: think teacher, casualty nurse, probation officer, housing benefit clerk, social worker, police officer and so on and so on (ad infinitum, ad nauseum). Public sector jobs often involve imposing things people don't want, or refusing them things they do want. This doesn't always make for pleasant conversations. (And anyone under the impression that no-one in the public sector is ever scared of losing their job could try Googling the words 'Gershon review'.)

Re. the self-employed: yes, of course it's stressful being self-employed and not being able to take time off when you're ill for fear of the effect on your business/bank balance (I was a supply teacher for about half my teaching career, so I know only too well how that particular fear goes) . But I rather imagine that the figures being quoted were for private and public sector employees, not the self-employed.