In 1999, a pupil of mine who had studied and failed the two GCSE subjects I taught him also managed to fail every other subject.He was simply incapable of academic work. The thought that he would, in future, take 'A' Levels was laughable.
The last time I met this very decent young man, he was just completing his university degree!
There will be those who will naively assure us that this is a triumph for a system which rescues the 'late developers'. It is not. It is something far more dangerous - a system which has been so downgraded as to make a degree utterly worthless.
What else can you expect? When I went to university in 1970, I was one of about 5% to go and the state could afford to fund every student worthy of a place.
With 43% now going - and 50% as the target - degrees inevitably became massively downgraded and at a lunch, I put this to former Fisheries Minister, Eliot Morley, who accused me of being "an elitist".
I immediately shrank away in horror to learn what I was. I suffered profound mental trauma. I lost sleep at night. I felt ashamed; humiliated; belittled; anti-social. I hurt inside. What a cruel and dreadful thing to be called - a member of Her Majesty's Government had effectively accused me of being somebody who believes in quality and excellence. My shame is ongoing to this very day.
