Colleges celebrate record A-level results (From Daily Echo)

Well done to all those that made the grade. For those that didn’t, don’t bother going to University, they are only after your money. Go get your self a trade or a junior position in a profession. You can still go and get drunk at weekends and have loads of fun and just think you wont have none of that crippling debt.

Well done to everyone!! Regardless of grades!! You should be proud of your accomplishments. Good luck for the future x

Well done, but not really a surprise is it. Real 'news' would be a year when results do not improve.

EEaaaasssyyyy!!!!

But seriously, I don't understand how Uni is the be all & end all, I didn't go back when it was at least challenging, but I've managed to carve out a decent career for myself. As long as you show a perspective employer that you are keen & ready to learn (& perhaps put up with some pretty low wages to start with) you can do anything you want.

Not sure employers in most professions really take much notice now any, the University system is in real danger of becoming irrelevant. I doubt many prospective employers really give two hoots about your Sociology results anyway. Bring back apprenticeships!

Good luck y'all.

Wont be long before the normal doom and gloom merchants start telling us on this forum that the exams are too easy, the results dont mean anything, its a waste of time going to Uni.
.
Well done to you all

The reason for the disparaging comments above is firstly that whereas in the past academic, technical and vocational courses were all dealt with separately in separate establishments, stupid politicians like Ed Balls, Blears, Harman et al think it is more egalitarian to call every institution a "university" so courses that were once C&G or HNC qualified with a lot of practical content are now lumped in with more traditional courses and given degree status, for no benefit. I can state for a fact that the A levels my daughter has just completed are as hard as the ones I had to do, and more relevant to the needs of today.What has changed is that the unnecessary stress of gruelling 4 hour papers has been replaced with more course projects and more but shorter exams.

To all those saying you don't need a Degree, there is some truth in it. However, tell employers that. Plenty of professional jobs state a degree as a requirement (any degree!) even if the work doesn't necessarily necessitate it.

StEmmosfire wrote:
Well done to all those that made the grade. For those that didn’t, don’t bother going to University, they are only after your money. Go get your self a trade or a junior position in a profession. You can still go and get drunk at weekends and have loads of fun and just think you wont have none of that crippling debt.

The voice of reason by far. Uni is not the be all and end all. I didn't go to uni because we didn't have the money and I didn't want the crippling debt so I got a job and still had a good time. There is life after your grades are published.

Exams are too easy. Put them to a HAND written test for all subjects with no calculators, then we'll see the true pass rate of these pampered pets intellects...Most adjudicators would also fail and most likely wouldn't know how to assess, as most now are from the same dumbed down society. No wonder the streets are strewn with drunken college students that have no respect for the future generations. Each generation blames the last and by jingo am i proud i had the good sense to show my children the extent of where they may end up, unless they studied well beyond this pathetic curriculum offered by these governments. A big hooray for the A+ students, as your pass results equate to little more than average. Grab your papers, get your surgical enhancements and sign up for xfactor or big brother if you are not on the ball, because the only real winners out of these results, will be the ones that realise they were just government statistical juggling and have no relevence on your future journey.

Congratulations to the students. Good luck: I hope you get the places you wanted, and well done for all your hard work.

My son got his results today and he has been accepted into university. I am proud of the fact the he had worked bloody hard to get the results. He thoroughly deserved them.
All those who think A levels are easy clearly dont know what they are talking about.

Hard based on what ? Maybe his 12 years education was lacking and the exam was difficult based on this reason. This still doesn't make the exams difficult.

Hmmm, Balmoral. So what are your academic credentials? Are you sufficiently knowledgeable to make such disparaging statements? Or perhaps your words are the rant of a highly opinionated ignorant bigot ?

Hmmm, Night mare. 30+ years experience in education and as you can see above, outspoken advocate of strict and more comprehensive examinations. Retired from the management group at Ofqual and now a private tutor to children of parents that actually know what success is and realise what a sham this system has turned out to be. Why, did the post seem in someway above your ability to digest ? Or maybe you saw it as something of a target to vent your frustrations of the said lacking, which you may possess. In laymans terms, can you back up your surmisal of my ignorance, with evidence suggesting or proving i am not ? Either way, thank you for a response worthy of the underclass this nation now feels proud to breed. A class where the underdog is now a national treasure, where the winner is classed as a target to knock of his/her perch, rather than a place of achievement. Where the young girl, idolises a cosmetically enhanced bimbo and the boy, a rap or graffiti artist, opposed to physicists, scientists or a true sporting hero. Where school playgrounds outlaw contentions such as football and sports days don't like a loser, so single pupil races are outlawed prompting the authorities to wonder why the gifted youth are piling into the streets with no goals. Hmmm is exactly my thought too night mare. Sadly though, for different reasons.

Iw61 wrote:
My son got his results today and he has been accepted into university. I am proud of the fact the he had worked bloody hard to get the results. He thoroughly deserved them.
All those who think A levels are easy clearly dont know what they are talking about.

Yes well said IW. This is a proud day for all the parents who have spent time helping guiding and encouraging their children to get good grades. It is also traditionally the day when the indolent failures who didn't lift a finger to help themselves or their kids try and pour cold water over other's hard earned success. I went through the university system myself in a purely academic subject and now my daughter is intending to do the same (at a different university!) and unlike the ignorant sour grapes in other posts I can say with certainty that the knowledge and skills she was required to exhibit are more widespread and relevant than the mere regurgitation of fact that I was required to produce. This is a day to be proud and no doubt IW and I will be raising our glasses later to the successes of tomorrow.

Balmoral wrote:
Hmmm, Night mare. 30+ years experience in education and as you can see above, outspoken advocate of strict and more comprehensive examinations. Retired from the management group at Ofqual and now a private tutor to children of parents that actually know what success is and realise what a sham this system has turned out to be. Why, did the post seem in someway above your ability to digest ? Or maybe you saw it as something of a target to vent your frustrations of the said lacking, which you may possess. In laymans terms, can you back up your surmisal of my ignorance, with evidence suggesting or proving i am not ? Either way, thank you for a response worthy of the underclass this nation now feels proud to breed. A class where the underdog is now a national treasure, where the winner is classed as a target to knock of his/her perch, rather than a place of achievement. Where the young girl, idolises a cosmetically enhanced bimbo and the boy, a rap or graffiti artist, opposed to physicists, scientists or a true sporting hero. Where school playgrounds outlaw contentions such as football and sports days don't like a loser, so single pupil races are outlawed prompting the authorities to wonder why the gifted youth are piling into the streets with no goals. Hmmm is exactly my thought too night mare. Sadly though, for different reasons.

"Retired from the management group at Ofqual..." Does this mean that you share some responsibility for the current state of the English secondary education examination system; which I agree leaves a lot to be desired? I also broadly agree with your other comments which seem to express concern about the focus young people have on worshipping and seeking celebrity rather than applauding real achievement.
However, I do not think it is helpful to generalise. For example, there are likely to be people in all levels of society who do not aspire to be cosmetically enhanced nor become rap or graffiti artists.
I know that there are state schools that encourage competition both on and off the sports field.

In my opinion the overarching reason why the state education system, both secondary and tertiary, is failing young people is because it is used as a political football with respective governments experimenting with the system in order to satisfy the dominant ideology within their parties.

Balmoral wrote:
Hmmm, Night mare. 30+ years experience in education and as you can see above, outspoken advocate of strict and more comprehensive examinations. Retired from the management group at Ofqual and now a private tutor to children of parents that actually know what success is and realise what a sham this system has turned out to be. Why, did the post seem in someway above your ability to digest ? Or maybe you saw it as something of a target to vent your frustrations of the said lacking, which you may possess. In laymans terms, can you back up your surmisal of my ignorance, with evidence suggesting or proving i am not ? Either way, thank you for a response worthy of the underclass this nation now feels proud to breed. A class where the underdog is now a national treasure, where the winner is classed as a target to knock of his/her perch, rather than a place of achievement. Where the young girl, idolises a cosmetically enhanced bimbo and the boy, a rap or graffiti artist, opposed to physicists, scientists or a true sporting hero. Where school playgrounds outlaw contentions such as football and sports days don't like a loser, so single pupil races are outlawed prompting the authorities to wonder why the gifted youth are piling into the streets with no goals. Hmmm is exactly my thought too night mare. Sadly though, for different reasons.

This is my rant of the week... Infact the month. Good one Balmoral.

Night Mare wrote:

Balmoral wrote: Hmmm, Night mare. 30+ years experience in education and as you can see above, outspoken advocate of strict and more comprehensive examinations. Retired from the management group at Ofqual and now a private tutor to children of parents that actually know what success is and realise what a sham this system has turned out to be. Why, did the post seem in someway above your ability to digest ? Or maybe you saw it as something of a target to vent your frustrations of the said lacking, which you may possess. In laymans terms, can you back up your surmisal of my ignorance, with evidence suggesting or proving i am not ? Either way, thank you for a response worthy of the underclass this nation now feels proud to breed. A class where the underdog is now a national treasure, where the winner is classed as a target to knock of his/her perch, rather than a place of achievement. Where the young girl, idolises a cosmetically enhanced bimbo and the boy, a rap or graffiti artist, opposed to physicists, scientists or a true sporting hero. Where school playgrounds outlaw contentions such as football and sports days don't like a loser, so single pupil races are outlawed prompting the authorities to wonder why the gifted youth are piling into the streets with no goals. Hmmm is exactly my thought too night mare. Sadly though, for different reasons.

"Retired from the management group at Ofqual..." Does this mean that you share some responsibility for the current state of the English secondary education examination system; which I agree leaves a lot to be desired? I also broadly agree with your other comments which seem to express concern about the focus young people have on worshipping and seeking celebrity rather than applauding real achievement. However, I do not think it is helpful to generalise. For example, there are likely to be people in all levels of society who do not aspire to be cosmetically enhanced nor become rap or graffiti artists. I know that there are state schools that encourage competition both on and off the sports field. In my opinion the overarching reason why the state education system, both secondary and tertiary, is failing young people is because it is used as a political football with respective governments experimenting with the system in order to satisfy the dominant ideology within their parties.

Yes, as i in no way would distance myself from responsibility. In my defence the group is relatively new, since Ed Balls relinquished the governments responsibility to ofqual. However, it must be understood that raising the standard of education is an up hill task, due to the social and inadequate governmental policies inter-woven with education, IE; immigration, housing, parenting and religion etc. This said, it cannot be stressed enough the importance of raising the bar, which many areas of society would fail at the first step. This generation needs to exceed the standards accepted to pass these exams. Parents across the board are pushing for their children to pass exams, feeling this is the be all and end all on the road to a career. This is not so, it is the beginning of a extremely precarious journey into the unknown.

Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Check your email, i'll be there.

didicoy wrote:

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote: Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean. Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Check your email, i'll be there.

You're an email?

Facewagon wrote:

didicoy wrote:

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote: Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean. Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Check your email, i'll be there.

You're an email?

I'LL BE THERE

Not meaning to disrupt the somewhat surreal battle taking place above me, but I'd like to complain about the photo accompanying this article. All newspapers are legally obliged to show teenagers jumping into the air waving bits of paper at this time of year, and yet some of those above are actually sitting! What a poor lack of effort from young people today.

The sad thing is that firms haven't offered decent professional training for years so that's why so many are having to go to Uni. Many professions, like accountancy and law, should be doing more to encourage 18 year olds as they did in the past rather than picking up graduates as they do now.

Balmoral wrote:
Hmmm, Night mare. 30+ years experience in education and as you can see above, outspoken advocate of strict and more comprehensive examinations. Retired from the management group at Ofqual and now a private tutor to children of parents that actually know what success is and realise what a sham this system has turned out to be. Why, did the post seem in someway above your ability to digest ? Or maybe you saw it as something of a target to vent your frustrations of the said lacking, which you may possess. In laymans terms, can you back up your surmisal of my ignorance, with evidence suggesting or proving i am not ? Either way, thank you for a response worthy of the underclass this nation now feels proud to breed. A class where the underdog is now a national treasure, where the winner is classed as a target to knock of his/her perch, rather than a place of achievement. Where the young girl, idolises a cosmetically enhanced bimbo and the boy, a rap or graffiti artist, opposed to physicists, scientists or a true sporting hero. Where school playgrounds outlaw contentions such as football and sports days don't like a loser, so single pupil races are outlawed prompting the authorities to wonder why the gifted youth are piling into the streets with no goals. Hmmm is exactly my thought too night mare. Sadly though, for different reasons.

Whilst i agree with some of your sentiment, i have to say that your argument is clouded by your rhetoric and 'gobbledegook'. As a teacher this is surely somewhat contradictory, i suspect you may be involved in politics.

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean. Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

There he is, Balmoral, meet 'Lodzamunny' the vacuous hero of your dreams.

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Err, no. The finest computer-literate minds in the world, combined, have thus far been unable to stop phishing and spam. Why would a mere degree in CS suddenly be able to?

Balmoral. I didn't actually realize that you had sat A-Levels this year? And as for you taking some sort of ridiculous intellectual high ground, it sounds to me that you are the most narrow minded fool on here. I have just received my results after two years of bloody hard work and stress, and for me to read these stupid comments, with the usual moaning and groaning about how easy A-Levels are is so infuriating it really is hard to put into words. Why not try something really out of character? Be happy for all the students (like me) who attained good grades, instead of being a moany ignorant old fool? Or is that too much to ask?

Too much to ask ! In fact, the "bloody hard work and stress", is the exact mind-set i'd expect this years pass pupils to feel after gaining an average bumped up result.

Victorian Principles wrote:

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Err, no. The finest computer-literate minds in the world, combined, have thus far been unable to stop phishing and spam. Why would a mere degree in CS suddenly be able to?

Err yes. Because the remedy is by necessity reactive - a bit like preparing a vaccine for a new strain of flu - the flu has to come first. So it is with malware, but well over 99% of all spam is eradicated before it ever reaches its intended targets. WHen a new threat is detected it takes massive effort and intelligence to indentify it quickly, then prepare and test and distribute antidotes. As for people who respond to emails telling them they have won first prize in a lottery they have never entered, the finest minds in the world cannot legislate against that sort of stupidity uinless you take away people's rights to behave like imbeciles. This is just one tiny corner of the reason why serious academic degrees are as challenging, necessary and demanding as they ever were.

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

Victorian Principles wrote:

Andy Locks Heath wrote:

didicoy wrote:
Well done, now go on to study, Dog Grooming, Media Studies, History of Egg herding or English in the ocean.

Pointless qualifications, i earn 500k a week sending spam emails on hotmail

But you don't though do you? you have to resort to pretending. I take your point about useless qualifications but the real ones are all still there. For instance if you had a degree in computer science or a derivative you might know how to phish for spam - or better still how to stop it.

Err, no. The finest computer-literate minds in the world, combined, have thus far been unable to stop phishing and spam. Why would a mere degree in CS suddenly be able to?

Err yes. Because the remedy is by necessity reactive - a bit like preparing a vaccine for a new strain of flu - the flu has to come first. So it is with malware, but well over 99% of all spam is eradicated before it ever reaches its intended targets. WHen a new threat is detected it takes massive effort and intelligence to indentify it quickly, then prepare and test and distribute antidotes. As for people who respond to emails telling them they have won first prize in a lottery they have never entered, the finest minds in the world cannot legislate against that sort of stupidity uinless you take away people's rights to behave like imbeciles. This is just one tiny corner of the reason why serious academic degrees are as challenging, necessary and demanding as they ever were.

Err, no. The disease analogy is useful when explaining the basic phenomenon to those less than au fait with computing matters, but it really doesn't stand up to close examination. It's nothing more than a handy bit of rhetoric for whipping up the masses. The bottom line is, the war on spam is ultimately futile, we can at best mitigate exposure. The very design of the protocols in the TCP/IP stack do not lend themselves to preventing data from being moved around, and without that stack of protocols, there is no Internet. Literally. And yes, I do actually mean literally. It's at best an arms race with massively overwhelming odds in favour of the malware.

So you just resaid what I said and proved my point. but more to the point the problem with malware is not the problem of the transport protocol is it? Why even mention TCP/IP? That's a bit like blaming the car not the driver for an accident. Whenever there is a new threat or malware phenomonon it is not the protocol stack that is patched is it? The internet is ipso facto open therefore you can only react to to something when it abused, not destroy its very basis and create another closed proprietary structure such as SNA, DECnet or whatever which was rejected by commerce. Therefore it is almost always down to the application or OS to patch a misuse. As it happens I was involved with specifying CCITT X.400 and X.500 way back and my university education was a massive benefit which is what this thread was supposed to be about. But then I guess you wanted to try and impress me, which is rather sweet.