England's young adults trail world in literacy and maths

[klr]

Fukkin smart ass forriners allus shootin off yer mouf bout how smart y'all is. Betcha cain't even skin out a dang deer nor bait a trout line. Sheeit.

All joking aside though, my parents' generation were keenly aware of the value of education, and regarded a third-level qualification especially highly. Now, they give degrees out to anyone.

And no, that's not too much of an exaggeration. I once commented that you should not drive across a bridge or live in a house built by an engineering graduate from our university.

[Audley Strange]

Can't be right, since all U.K. children pass all their exams with a grade A or above. They are all special little geniuses that are highly motivated, versatile. the best at everything and cannot stop being head-hunted by Corporations, who all moved here because of the kid's talents, which of course made us the economic powerhouse of Europe.

I bet they tricked our kids by using that foreign maths and language.

Grade inflation ... an absolute curse.

I was joking, but please, tell me more.

Grade inflation is no joke.

A real-world example: My entrance points for university (back in the mid-1980s) were in theory good enough to allow me to apply for Medicine, which has traditionally had the very highest entry requirements for all third-level undergraduate programs. Nowadays, with the same points total, I would have struggled to get into a generic B.Comm. program, which is what I actually did back in the day.

My direct experience with the university system (including access to masses of statistics) suggests to me that grade inflation is just as much a problem at third level.

Oh, are you saying that the Universities do not value the grading system from Secondary schools, because the exams are so easy? Yeah that wouldn't surprise me. Again Strathclyde or Glasgow (I can't recall which) a few years ago put on voluntary classes on basic arithmetic and english, because they were finding so many students were lacking the fundamentals.

How the fuck did they get any exam results in the first place if they can't get the basics right?

[klr]

...

Oh, are you saying that the Universities do not value the grading system from Secondary schools, because the exams are so easy? Yeah that wouldn't surprise me. Again Strathclyde or Glasgow (I can't recall which) a few years ago put on voluntary classes on basic arithmetic and english, because they were finding so many students were lacking the fundamentals.

How the fuck did they get any exam results in the first place if they can't get the basics right?

Exactly. The universities (and other third level colleges) are deeply suspicious of the points that secondary school students get. It would be very hard for them to miss something that they are also guilty of themselves.

Some more vignettes: Back in my university days, if you failed more than a certain number of exams in the 1st sitting (summer), you had to repeat everything in the Autumn resits. They also timetabled all the final exams by subject area, so I had five three-hour accountancy exams in three days. Results were posted publicly for all to read - including what you had to repeat, if you failed. All of these things are unthinkable nowadays.

[Audley Strange]

Fukkin smart ass forriners allus shootin off yer mouf bout how smart y'all is. Betcha cain't even skin out a dang deer nor bait a trout line. Sheeit.

All joking aside though, my parents' generation were keenly aware of the value of education, and regarded a third-level qualification especially highly. Now, they give degrees out to anyone.

And no, that's not too much of an exaggeration. I once commented that you should not drive across a bridge or live in a house built by an engineering graduate from our university.

I don't know if you recall a few weeks ago, me mentioning my cousin who got the highest mark in the country a couple of years ago for his Engineering degree was head-hunted and never got anywhere because of his low rent weegie attitude. While he was doing his final year I replaced his computer power-pack with one which has dual voltage. He was looking at it, while it was on, saw a bright red button that said 240v and then turned it over, blowing himself across the room and destroying the computer I had just built for him.

Also when I was working in a bank a couple of years ago, some young guy who I quite liked came over to me and I asked how is politics final was. He was one of those guys that thinks they are smarter than everyone else and said to me, "It was okay but there was a really tough question."



"oh yeah?" I enquired. He took a piece of paper and wrote down the word Hiatus, then said, "yeah they asked the question why was there was one of them on elections in Britain between 1914 and 1918."

"A haitus? Well because the first world war obviously."

"Oh is that how you pronounce it? I didn't know what it meant, but I guessed the answer from the dates."

I've got more. How about the archeology student who though Egypt was in Eastern Europe?

Shit man, I'm not even that clever but there does seem to be something lacking in general knowledge education.

[klr]

Although I don't know if I should be laughing or crying at some of those.

[klr]

Oh, and just in case anyone might get the impression that I'm a snob about university education: I was grant-aided myself, and one of only four students from my school year of about 150 to go to university.

[Audley Strange]

Although I don't know if I should be laughing or crying at some of those.

The reasoning behind Egypt being in Eastern Europe was thus.

Gypsies come from Egypt, gypies are Romany thus Egypt must be near Romania.

[JimC]

Oz came in 14th in numeracy. A bit ordinary, but at least we beat Canada...

[klr]

Oz came in 14th in numeracy. A bit ordinary, but at least we beat Canada...

Are you sure whoever reported that was counting properly?

[Svartalf]

Although I don't know if I should be laughing or crying at some of those.

The reasoning behind Egypt being in Eastern Europe was thus.

Gypsies come from Egypt, gypies are Romany thus Egypt must be near Romania.

Sure... the fact that Gypsies speak an Hindian language never entered the equation...

[laklak]

How the fuck did they get any exam results in the first place if they can't get the basics right?

That would depend on who you ask. A Third Wave Feminist might say it's the inevitable result of the privileged patriarchy, while a Klan member (or maybe Tyr) might say it's due to school integration. No doubt to a Democrat it's Anti-Science Republicans pushing creationism and to Republicans it's fuzzy-headed feel-good liberalism where everyone gets a trophy for participating.

Personally I think we're devolving, have been since we stopped letting the predators eat the slow ones.

[Audley Strange]

Aye. Perhaps our intelligence is being siphoned off by computing devices to make something better.

[JimC]

Aye. Perhaps our intelligence is being siphoned off by computing devices to make something better.

Computing devices are draining our vital bodily fluids!

[Coito ergo sum]

As always, the important thing is where you stack up 'gainst Merka.

With no one below America's place is safe as houses.

Yes, yes, I'm sure the OECD's calculations are as accurate as the world healthcare rankings which claimed that Cuba and the Dominican Republic had far superior health care than the United States.

They do if you have a pre-existing condition and a low income, I'm sure.

That's insane.

The people with low incomes in Cuba and the Dominican Republic get a level of healthcare that would be shockingly bad compared to what poor people get in the US. In the US people with low incomes get free medical care. Same with poor people with preexisting conditions. They plop you on Medicaid. The old get Medicare.

[Tyrannical]

Although I don't know if I should be laughing or crying at some of those.

The reasoning behind Egypt being in Eastern Europe was thus.

Gypsies come from Egypt, gypies are Romany thus Egypt must be near Romania.

Well, people make the silly mistake thinking Cleopatra was Egyptian since she was Queen of Egypt.