Oz wrote:


The (UK) Economist 19/4/3 P25

Qualifications of teachers teaching in UK percent:

Physics Chemistry Biology
Without degree 75 50 40
Without "A" level 30 15 25

Truly mind-boggling .....

NOTE for non-UK readers: These subjects are taught from age 13.
"A" levels taken aged 17 and give entry to university.
Usually about 3 "A" levels are taken.

The standard of a 'pass' at "A" level is *very* modest.
The standard of a good grade is high.

The Ministry of Defence has had to offer remedial maths for applicants
with a "C" (middle grade) in GCSE (age 15) maths because they found they
were often baffled by fractions.

Coventry University's tests have shown that a "B" grade in "A" level
maths is about the same or worse than an "N" (fail) in 1991.

This particular whinge has the longest legs in history. Every generation finds a
reason to complain that they had a much better education than the current crop
of students. the belief kept the teaching of Latin as a living language alive
until long after the last Roman Emperor's final bacchanal.
So science moves forward with nanotech, wi-fi, genome analysis, cloning the
bauteng, creating new materials and rightly ignores the critics.

When a test or experiment fails to represent reality, it is the testing that
must change.

Dennis