Same photos every year - exam results

hugheskevi

and isn't it strange they are always lucky to pick a student, who opens results and gets even better results than expected and full of glee, never pick someone who totally flunks it and bursts into tears.

I remember my A-level results day nearly 20 years ago...Lots of anticipation, get up early, start getting ready...then the 'phone rang and it was the school asking if I would speak to media. Rather spoiled the anticipation and surprise element of the day.

NBLondon

Stephen Collins skewered this in Saturday's Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/cartoon/2014/aug/09/stephen-collins-cartoon-exam-results

geerex

Hermia wrote: »

If you read the news you would think only pretty blond girls are the only ones who sit A-levels!

The report I saw looked like it was from somewhere in Africa.

It wasn't, it was East London.

yangptangkipperbang

Hermia wrote: »

If you read the news you would think only pretty blond girls are the only ones who sit A-levels!

In the Telegraph yesterday the girls outnumbered the boys by 45 to 9 !!!!

Oldfatgrumpy

I put on my grumpy hat every year now when this dross appears on TV. When I got my GCE results in 1969 they arrived in the post on an imprecisely cut 2-inch slice from a mimeographed sheet in a brown SAE bearing a stamp I had to pay for. No excitement or drama whatsoever. Barely any interest, actually. The results were good enough for me to do A levels but by then I was already at work as an office junior, as it had already been made clear to me that my parents couldn't afford to support me and I was expected to be paying rent ASAP.

dodger1

Oldfatgrumpy wrote: »

I put on my grumpy hat every year now when this dross appears on TV. When I got my GCE results in 1969 they arrived in the post on an imprecisely cut 2-inch slice from a mimeographed sheet in a brown SAE bearing a stamp I had to pay for. No excitement or drama whatsoever. Barely any interest, actually. The results were good enough for me to do A levels but by then I was already at work as an office junior, as it had already been made clear to me that my parents couldn't afford to support me and I was expected to be paying rent ASAP.

If something so trivial makes you wear your grumpy hat I guess it's on an awful lot of the time

Oldfatgrumpy

dodger1 wrote: »

If something so trivial makes you wear your grumpy hat I guess it's on an awful lot of the time

Oh it certainly is!
In this instance it's because the media by doing this reinforce the idea that academic excellence - or, to be more cynical, the ability to hone to perfection over 2 years the skills necessary to pass a very specific test, is somehow the key to a wonderful future. A bit like driving lessons which teach you to pass a narrowly prescribed test but not how to co-exist safely and responsibly with all road users over time (evidenced by accident statistics).

System

There is always one student per year - one for A-levels and one for GASEs where they get top grade for sitting 10 a-levels and 21 GCSEs. Why do they need to study that vast number? Did they have a social life for the past two years?

jackieblack

Most of the A-level students I know had already checked their UCAS Track before they went to collect their A level results so they pretty much knew what their results were (ie they'd either got what they needed to get into 1st or insurance choices, or not) before they opened the envelope

Callie22

ScarletMarble wrote: »

There is always one student per year - one for A-levels and one for GASEs where they get top grade for sitting 10 a-levels and 21 GCSEs. Why do they need to study that vast number? Did they have a social life for the past two years?

There are only two reasons why you'd have more than the usual number of A-Levels - you're either massively, frighteningly intelligent, or you've been in prison for a loooong time. I'm glad I'm not clever as I wouldn't want to have to explain either in a job application