'GCSEs may need a grade 10, private school chief suggests'
This is the headline I read this morning, on the Telegraph (shocker), and I honestly can't believe that someone is even thinking about suggesting this.
The statement comes from Mr Barnaby Lenon, a 'former headmaster at the £41,775-a-year Harrow School'. 'He revealed that at some of the country’s top fee-paying institutions the “most common” mark this year was 9.' 'This year, almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) of private school GCSEs were awarded a grade 9.'
Basically, Mr Lenon is suggesting that GCSE's become increasingly more and more difficult, due to private school statistics. Private school. As in, paying £41,000 per annum to receive your education (in general, not including scholarships).
I have no problem with private schooling, nor the students who are privileged enough to receive such an education. But it is very ignorant to assume that just because private school students are receiving mostly grade 9s, that the bar should be raised even more.
When the grading system changed from letters to numbers, the curriculum as well increased difficulty. Memorising equations, quotes, closed book exams and less coursework than ever.
As someone who has just finished their secondary school education, and witnessed the breakdowns and pressure on a regular occurrence, I find it fucking stupid that anyone would suggest that a higher grade would need to be added. Speaking as someone who attended state school education, it was difficult enough for my friends to receive grade fours, and the pressure put upon the 'top sets' for grade eights and nines was horrific. Now imagine how crippled students would become if they found out that a grade ten was attainable.
You cannot generalise a percentage like private schooling, to the wider population. It is not fair on students. Even those in private schools, the pressure they would face to try and achieve faultless grades could have serious hindrances on their health.
And if they didn't receive a grade ten, how do you suppose they would react?
Or perhaps this is just a way to further widen the gap between private and state schools. That way, private school students would be able to maintain the top grades, whereas state school students would barely scrape by, and feel even worse due to the difference between a pass and the highest grade.
Luckily, a 'spokesperson from the exams regulator Ofqual said: "Our role is to secure that standards are maintained in GCSEs in England and we have no intention to introduce any additional grades above grade 9. "The 9 to 1 grading system has allowed better differentiation of the highest performing students than the A* to G grades it replaced. We believe everyone would now welcome a period of stability."'
You are damn well right that they would. But the fact that someone even considered making the GCSEs even harder, and more stressful, is sickening. What's wrong with more and more students achieving the top grades? Why must you constantly make them feel even worse, and push them to the brink of exhaustion and mental instability, just because you feel that they aren't being challenged enough?
Grow up, and start giving a fuck about your children and their mental health, before you start suggesting changes to the education system.
