Congratulations ....

Yes fully echo M's words there.

Congratulations from me- Now they can look forward to University and getting fleeced by the system and be in horrendous debt just as they are starting out on life's path- While Principals and Vice Principals award themselves huge pay packets - some in excess of £400.000 ! This has got to change- and while they are about it, they might look at reversing the dumbing down of the curriculum and raise the standards again. 

Well done on the successes. Our teachers are surely doing something right.

This is a time to celebrate all that is good in education, not to be negative. 

Congratulations to all students  it doesn't seem 5 years since youngest son, picked up his results, mind you he wasn't that worried as he'd already found out his place at Loughborough University was confirmed. 

Ah, I was going to agree with you up until that last sentence, Merve! I'm hoping it was said tongue in cheek! 

But your first point is true - what a sad reflection on our society that the best message we can give these 18 year olds is "go to uni and rack up huge debts, but don't worry, you probably won't end up earning enough to have to repay them". 

Absolutely Moulesy. It's a private company now too . I feel so sorry for them particularly after 2 of mine have been through the machinery. A massive debt just at the time they need every penny to get started with a home and family. I have always been of the opinion that only the cream should go to University and the State should pay for the talent from which the state is going to benefit. It's a Ponzi scheme! Not my words- ones of a politician. Now my last sentence! There has definitely been a dumbing down of educational standards. The exams and the courses are not as hard as they used to be and I think that is understood by most as they seek desperately to include the less able. GCEs being downgraded to GCSEs was an example. I'm not saying there are no brilliant students, of course there are, but the general standard now is of a lower standard- they aim for mediocrity and exceed their wildest ambitions. Most students paying through the nose at the moment to get an education would be far better getting an apprenticeship or going into commerce at the ground floor. I always knew I wasn't University material and I haven't grown up with a chip on my shoulder in any way as the lefty liberals would have you believe. There are those that can and those that can't- that's life - get over it is what we were told and it's stood me in good stead rather than giving me false horizons and false hopes and getting me owned by the banks before I even started out. I'm sorry

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Now my last sentence! There has definitely been a dumbing down of educational standards. The exams and the courses are not as hard as they used to be and I think that is understood by most as they seek desperately to include the less able. 

Merve - I'm sorry but that is simply not true. Today we're talking about A levels and, although it's 7 years now since I retired, I think I can speak with some experience, at least about my own subject, maths. When I retired I kept my collection of worked A level papers (pure maths, stats and mechanics) going back to about 1990. Looking at this year's papers the questions asked could have been set 10 or 20 years ago and I dare say earlier than that. Whatever "most" understand, A level papers are rigorously scutinised and there is little evidence that standards have eroded over the years. 

As for GCSEs, these were introduced to combine GCE and CSE into one exam system. To achieve what was the equivalent of an old GCE pass, a grade C was required. Now when the exams went modular it may have meant that more youngsters were able to achieve that standard as they could resit modules they had failed. This is not the same as saying that the standard had been lowered. Modules of course and coursework are now largely a thing of the past.

I do despair each year at this discrediting of youngsters' achievements, commonly made with absolutely no evidence at all. I'd thought better of you than that! 

I too find it sad to cast aspersions on the educational level of hard working students. Within my extended family I know of many that have been working frantically to achieve the best they can, losing sleep with worry, total commitment is given. I have nothing but respect & admiration for both the students & the teachers. 

Now they can look forward to University and getting fleeced by the system and be in horrendous debt just as they are starting out on life's path

I too dislike the idea of student loans rather than a grant. However I think personally that the grant should be in place for career paths and skills that the country needs. Not all necessarily at degree level. 

My thoughts are coloured by the fact that I too had to rely on a loan from Midland Bank, as was. Partly my choice. I started pollytechnic doing civil engineering. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer shortly afterwards. I missed my first years exams due to her death and funeral and chose to restart the course rather than continuing to year two. I was married a few months later with our first child two weeks after. I could not get a married grant having already started the course and, because my father suggested that I did not get married refused to take any money from him. We did not fall out but I was a principled B. I had enough money stashed away to buy a mobile home and, later, to replace our car. The grant that I got from the LEA was not enough to pay for more than my books. My bank manager in Leeds agreed to fund me at zero interest until I started work. In those days bank managers had discretion!

So as a student I had a loan. 

Hi mousely, I know you are an ex teacher and of course I would expect you to protect your profession. Only right and proper. I don't understand though why there seems to be a general misunderstanding?? Who could possibly be causing this? Only today I read that most 'degrees' at University are less than useless for the young person involved. You talk about Maths, Higher Maths etc. I did say in my statement that there are the exceptional students and they are the ones that we need to send to Uni. - and if we are talking your subject, I think that you have to be pretty special material to get your head around the very dedicated and serious business of Maths but come on,you must know of degrees that you are very doubtful about. You shoot the messenger and yet many people say what I have said. Can they all be wrong? I doubt it. I have a strong belief that degrees have almost been invented so that Unis continue to be funded. - media studies?  Many of these 'Universities ' were nothing but Polytechnics a few years ago- now they are Universities. I'm not getting at the students but the system they find themselves in. It's an appalling state of affairs - to put a young person under such strain so early is tantamount to cruelty. Some will never pay it off, others will work for years to do so and others have declared themselves bankrupt. Is this how it should be? Education is now a business not about what it should be about. Introduce money into anything and the substance is immediately watered down. I mean no offence to your profession sir! and if you took offence I am heartily sorry.