Uni vs Tradesman

There has been a lot of media attention lately to kids finishing up their secondary schooling here. Scores for GCSE and A levels were out in August, and most university acceptances are conditional upon these grades. In particular, newspapers, magazines, tv programs, and radio have been going on about how the exams must be getting easier, because more kids are getting the top grades these days than ever before. And I have to say, I'm definitely a supporter of As and A*s especially (the equivalent of an A+) only being doled out to the cream of the crop, the elite, for superior exam work. Considering the number of subjects in which students take these exams, if they're really bright, you might expect to see one or two A*s in their best subjects. But from the stories I hear from co-workers, their kids and their kids' friends are getting 6-7 A*s, plus some As and a couple of Bs. As I understand it, while various government officials and people high up in education may deny it, it's true that exams are easier than they used to be, and there's a reason for it.

In the US, most parents and most secondary schools expect kids these days to go on to college/university. It's very rare to see something else-- there's too much pressure from their peers, their parents, and their teachers to really consider anything else. And then there are all the state schools and community colleges that accept kids with low grades, or those who still need to work on basic skills. This is what they are now trying to accomplish in the UK. They want kids to stay in school, and go on to university. It used to be very common for everyone except the elite to finish their schooling at 16 in this country, and go out to be an apprentice, or to a vocational school for training in some sort of trade. The UK has been known for being a largely blue-collar country (making a generalization here !-I don't mean to the exclusion of everything else). When the universities were first established, it was primarily for the progeny of the extremely wealthy. Then it opened up a bit more to top students. And now they want the majority of kids to stay in school, and at least get a first degree at a university. So the exams that these kids must pass to earn a place at university have become easier to accommodate this trend.

Interesting, huh? It still works the same as in the US, where it's much much harder to get into an Ivy League school than any other university, here it's harder to get into Oxford or Cambridge (Oxbridge, as the Brits love their nicknames) than any of the other schools. So in, I don't know, 15-20 years (totally guessing here), there may very well be the same expectation, that most kids will go on to university.