Is too much pressure put on teenagers to enter higher education? [ENDS 19/08/2010]

[GommeInc]

I think we learn more now than we used to, but whether or not it makes us more intelligent is another story. The Art GCSE is a bit of a half-baked qualification, compared to something more technical like Technology which thrived in the past with woodwork, electronics and anything related, as well as Home Economics for the ladies Art is exploring yourself and how you manipulate the world around you, it's personal rather than something like technology which needs to be done precisely otherwise you may die or seriously injure yourself

It's hard to say really, as classes have changed alot too. Loads of schools were poor and didn't have much say from the government, especially when supplies and classroom items (word has escaped me) didn't exist or were hard to come by, and you got families that didn't go to school, so it does make you think :/

ICT is another interesting subject, as it is useful, but is it really something that defines intelligence, when computers are a big thing in the modern world? Anyone can have one and poke one.

[[Jay]]

Let's say the average exam mark was 60% 10 years ago and is 70% today. That's an increase of 17% in exam marks.

Are you telling me that today's average 18 year old is 17% more intelligent than the average 18 year old 10 years ago? No. Exam marks may have increased by 20% or whatever, but intelligence will only be 2% or something.

These are just random numbers BTW.

We have to look at the statistics which we have and not those which we don't, we cant really see how intelligent's has increased but considering how exam papers do tend to increase in difficulty and yet the grades continue to rise we cannot assume that their just getting good grades but their not intelligent. Those exam grades do tend to reflect the intelligent's of that student.

You also got to remember as time goes on students are learning more and more stuff due to the increase in knowledge in different areas with each year.

[Cosmic]

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