Its GCSE results day tomorrow…Â I’m kind of glad that I will be at work and safe from the critical mass of nervous energy, anticipation, dread, expectation and teenage angst that will be brewing up in the vicinity of many homes and every secondary school tomorrow.
After months of seeing Chrystal come home late after staying behind at school for an extra hour or two and seeing her spend hours doing homework upstairs and generally putting in a lot more time and effort than I ever did for O Levels (even though I was at a boarding school and so less distracted than anyone at a normal school) I will, of course, take offence at the inevitable chorus if the overall results are any good: “standards are dropping”, “exams are too easy now”
If Chrystal and her friends are typical, kids are putting in a lot more effort now, so if results are better I won’t be surprised. As a letter-writer in one of the newspapers suggested this week, you might as well complain that the 200 metre sprint is getting easier because the runners are faster than they used to be.
I was remarking to Rob that, since schools are businesses, they protect their interests in many cases by not entering students for exams they are not expected to pass. It seems harsh but since many people choose schools based on exam results I can see the point…..
Hope Chrystal got what she hoped.
Very true. Its not that they are businesses as such – but they are expected to work to business-like criteria.
I think its the dreaded league tables that are at the root of it, which are there to support the dubious concept of choice.
Some schools are proud that a student who might have been expected to get nothing manages to get some D grades. Other schools would not want that child spoiling their statistics – and the best way to do that is to try and prevent them from attending that school, hence the covert selection that goes on.
Ironically, the Tories who have been shedding crocodile tears over the ‘long tail’ of students failing are most supportive of the idea of selection. Their favoured grammar and public schools are the ones that most follow the business model of making the statistics look better – and in the case of the public schools they really are businesses. Even if they are officially classed as having charitable status.
I have heard of schools that have, basically, ‘let children go’ to use the business term because they are unlikely to the get 5 a-c grades at GCSE. I bet those are the more selective schools. I wish that more schools could celebrate the achievements of all their students – although, curiously, at school I was glad I got good grades to make up for the fact that I was so rubbish at sport!