Today's Observer reports that:
Tory education reforms are giving private school pupils a huge additional advantage in the hunt for university places and jobs by allowing them to sit easier GCSEs than the more rigorous exams that are being forced upon state schools, new official figures suggest.If this is the case, then universities must take it into account by demanding grades from prospective students from private schools than they do for state schools.
I have long suspected that A level grades are as much a measure of social background and the school attended as they are a measure of academic potential.
Though private schooling gives better social contacts, if parents were confident that there child was bright they would save tens of thousands and put him or her through the state system.
These new figures show such a blatant abuse that the universities must act if the government does not.
1 comment:
International GCSEs were always considered more demanding than the national GCSEs. Their content was transparently deeper and broader. They were often preferred as better preparation for the next stage (Baccalaureate or A levels).
It would be interesting if national GCSEs are now more demanding. If this is the case, in most cases it will be accidental that private and international schools have continued with the international version. The recent publicity will of course cause the many lower level private schools to consider switching.
Your point about parents belief in the capabilities of their offspring is well made, though we should acknowledge that there are plenty of state schools in which bright children would have a hard time and in which they would not prosper.
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