Sunday, August 10, 2003
Head teachers have welcomed the suggestion that sixth-formers should apply to university after getting their A-level results. I think this makes perfect sense and having got into university by going through the Clearing system always thought that getting offered university places based on a teacher's estimate of how well they thought you were going to do in the exam a rather old-fashioned and anachronistic approach, even though I'm sure teachers can be quite skilled at making judgements. It always sounded as dodgy as those old wives tales about how you can guarentee the sex of your baby when having sex.
The only problem is how to change the education system to allow this. Exams will have to be earlier, which means squeezing the curiculum tighter, and puts more pressure on exam boards to get the papers accurately marked in time. Then there's all that getting interviewed by the university staff bit. Of course, the traditional autumn-summer academic year is a holdover from the nineteenth century when the only way to get kids into school was to promise the parents the kids would be available during the summer to help get the harvest in. If the university year was switched to follow the calender year, they'd have several months between end of school and start of course to work at Tescos to try and make as much money as possible to try and offset that crushing student debt they're going to get.
The only problem is how to change the education system to allow this. Exams will have to be earlier, which means squeezing the curiculum tighter, and puts more pressure on exam boards to get the papers accurately marked in time. Then there's all that getting interviewed by the university staff bit. Of course, the traditional autumn-summer academic year is a holdover from the nineteenth century when the only way to get kids into school was to promise the parents the kids would be available during the summer to help get the harvest in. If the university year was switched to follow the calender year, they'd have several months between end of school and start of course to work at Tescos to try and make as much money as possible to try and offset that crushing student debt they're going to get.
