In article , Stan The Man
writes
In article , Kay Easton
wrote:

Yes, UK. Where examination pass grades are _much_ easier to get than
they were when I was at school -- the Government's answer to poorer
teaching and diminished funding.

The proportion of the population obtaining GCSE C+ and A level passes
has hugely increased over my lifetime, and I would be amazed if that
were accounted for by a decrease in marking standards. The emphasis of
exams has changed, from testing acquisition of knowledge, to testing
acquisition of skills, and I think it is very hard to compare between
the two. I know that some of the skills which are being taught to my
children (eg collecting information to prepare a presentation complete
with handouts and other supplementary material) are ones which I have
had to learn during my working career.

Firstly, when I was young, teachers were not required to have a degree,
and in practice only grammar schools had graduate teachers - primary and
secondary modern school teachers had only their teacher training
qualifications. The independent sector did not always require teacher
training qualifications.

Now, all state school teachers are graduates - I don't know about the
independent sector.

My father was a state school teacher for 40 years until 1997. He was
avery learned man but but some of his colleagues did not have degrees.
Where does your information come from?

Sorry - I should have been more precise - entry in to the teaching
profession is now graduate only, either through a four year BEd degree
or through a degree in another subject followed by a post graduate
education qualification. That has been the case for at least the last 10
years.

Gone are the days when girls who could not get into university were
encouraged to take up teacher training whether or not they had any
desire to be a teacher.

Secondly, in what way are standards declining? My children are learning
things that I didn't learn till much later in life.

Maybe they do learn things about modern life that I wasn't taught. But
they learn less of English and mathematics than in my day.

No, not so - they learn different areas of mathematics. Less in the
arithmetical skills area, more of the underlying concepts of
mathematics, for example, some basic concepts of set theory, symmetry,
statistical concepts. It is no longer necessary to be able to accurately
add up a long column of numbers, but it is necessary to be able to
estimate an answer to check against the calculator response, and that is
reflected in the current syllabus.

I have often
been shocked to see the uncorrected errors in my children's homework
after marking. Punctuation, grammar, mental arithmetic and more are way
too far down the list of teaching priorities nowadays.

I agree that few people seem to pay attention to grammar nowadays, but
mental arithmetic is the subject of specific teaching and a separate
paper in the SATS exams.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm