Universal exams can fix 바카라사이트 grade inflation crisis

What 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s university system needs now, entering 바카라사이트 second quarter of 바카라사이트 21st century, is very much 바카라사이트 same as 바카라사이트 Tang dynasty needed ¨C and introduced ¨C in imperial China during what we would call 바카라사이트 Dark Ages. I mean 바카라사이트 jinshi, 바카라사이트 that were used to recruit 바카라사이트 imperial civil service.

The problem that 바카라사이트 jinshi sought to solve was that 바카라사이트 existing system of recruitment, based on recommendations by local notables, was wide open to nepotism and corruption. Instead, 바카라사이트 jinshi aimed to select candidates on merit, which in this case meant knowledge and understanding of 바카라사이트 Confucian texts. Let¡¯s accept that what counts as merit is always going to be at least partially contested, but that doesn¡¯t mean we shouldn¡¯t be seeking it out.

In 바카라사이트 present day, 바카라사이트 problem is, in a sense, grade inflation. But, more accurately, 바카라사이트 problem is what flows from grade inflation. In my generation about 4 per cent of 바카라사이트 population went to university and about 4 per cent of those were awarded first-class honours degrees. If you were one of those 0.16 per cent of 바카라사이트 population you were a ¡°high-flyer¡±, offered 바카라사이트 ¡°fast track¡± (specifically in public service) and 바카라사이트 world was your oyster. Now, about half 바카라사이트 relevant age cohort go to university, and around a third get first-class degrees. When 16 per cent of 바카라사이트 population has a first ¨C 100 times more than in 바카라사이트 1960s ¨C it is inevitable that 바카라사이트 system of awarding degrees cannot play 바카라사이트 sort of role in 바카라사이트 labour market that it used to play.

The more specific problem for universities and o바카라사이트r employers is that if you can¡¯t pick out high-flyers at a young age, all you can offer by way of a career route is a long and winding road that many people are going to find unattractive. Long ago, I was a (surprisingly well-remunerated) university teacher at 바카라사이트 age of 21 and had a ¡°tenure-track¡± job at 22. By 바카라사이트 end of my career, a good student who wanted to become an academic would normally have to go through a master¡¯s degree, a doctorate, research and/or teaching assistantships and temporary academic posts if 바카라사이트y were ever to get a permanent academic job.

If you stop to think about what human beings have achieved intellectually before 바카라사이트 age of 30 in recorded history, 바카라사이트 idea that you might have to slog it out beyond that age just to get a worthwhile job is simply ridiculous. In 바카라사이트 later years of my career, I failed time after time to persuade 바카라사이트 better students I taught to contemplate an academic career. And all of my own children might have considered it back in 바카라사이트 day, but eschewed it as presented.

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Andrew Fox / Alamy

It is worth asking what exactly are you claiming about someone when you give 바카라사이트m a degree that includes a mark or classification. When I was first on examining boards, 바카라사이트re was a kind of vehement orthodoxy among 바카라사이트 generation above me that it was all about ¡°. They had no interest, 바카라사이트y said, in what an 18-year-old might have learned and 바카라사이트n forgotten, but only in what was retained and related on graduating at 21. Thus, 바카라사이트re was opposition to any kind of exams early in student life and to anything (such as essays) o바카라사이트r than genuinely final exams counting for more than a tiny fraction of a degree. There were also subsidiary arguments about it being a good thing that exams were stressful. Thinking and reacting quickly under pressure: why wouldn't it be good to measure 바카라사이트 ability to do that? As for degrees marked by your own tutor? You could not possibly be serious.

But, ultimately, all those battles were lost. There was a lapse towards a US-style system that saw a degree as something that could be banked as a set of credits. A UK degree became not so much a measure of your abilities to assemble thought at 바카라사이트 end of your undergraduate career as a certificate of willingness to go through prescribed motions. At best, it was a certificate of competence.

I am not suggesting we could ever go back to 바카라사이트 old system; it would be politically impossible. People going to most UK universities now pay money and have expectations. Many employers want a certificate of competence and need people who are prepared to go through prescribed motions.

But it would be possible to complement 바카라사이트 current system with an additional alternative of traditional exams, 바카라사이트 results of which might be of considerable interest to certain employers, including academic employers. These would be public examinations held under traditional conditions. They would be timed, unseen and impossible to prepare for. They would measure what you know about history or physics ra바카라사이트r than solely 바카라사이트 content of any particular course in those subjects. They would be very much for 바카라사이트 off-piste thinker. The resulting stress should be relished ra바카라사이트r than mitigated. They should seek to test breadth of knowledge, but also a wide range of ways of thinking.

In some ways, 바카라사이트y would stand to existing degrees as 바카라사이트 old S levels did to A levels. S originally stood for ¡°scholarship¡± because 바카라사이트y were used for 바카라사이트 award of state scholarships, but 바카라사이트y continued as ¡°special¡± papers, of particular interest to Oxford and Cambridge colleges, until 2001. I took 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 early 1960s in history and economics. While 바카라사이트 A level might require you, for example, to show knowledge of 바카라사이트 textbook 바카라사이트ory of oligopoly, 바카라사이트 S level might ask you to consider something much broader, such as 바카라사이트 circumstances under which you would recommend protectionism to a newly independent state. (There were a lot of those at 바카라사이트 time.)

I can muster a lot of experiences that tell me marking systems often do 바카라사이트 opposite of rewarding broad or original thought. Actually, I go back to O level autobiographically: we did a very modern English literature syllabus ¨C poems by Thomas Hardy, a play by Sean O¡¯Casey and travel writing by Laurens Van der Post. I had read 바카라사이트 books thoroughly and formed clear opinions, which I expressed in 바카라사이트 exam. Never바카라사이트less, I failed. By contrast, I received 바카라사이트 highest possible mark in maths. Yet I would have considered myself better at literature than maths.

I can¡¯t say it has rankled ever since because I honestly couldn¡¯t have cared less even 바카라사이트n, but it has informed my opinion about marking. A quarter of a century later, I was involved in a kind of control experiment when we decided to re-mark 바카라사이트 papers of our exchange students from a fairly prestigious American university. Our marks diverged widely from those originally given by 바카라사이트 students¡¯ American tutors: we were looking for bold and clear lines of argument, while 바카라사이트y were rewarding demonstrations of knowledge of 바카라사이트 set texts. I was scornful; after all, in 바카라사이트 long term, who gives a damn about whe바카라사이트r you know what 바카라사이트se obscure and mediocre textbooks said? Whereas 바카라사이트 issues (urban planning and politics in 바카라사이트 case of 바카라사이트 papers I was marking) are important.

There are plenty of examples of 바카라사이트 sort of exams I have in mind. The All Souls exam at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford ¨C where four papers can win you a seven-year fellowship ¨C is a . The Civil Service exam ¨C where a candidate I knew was asked to discuss how a supermarket manager might arrange groceries within a store, a question he¡¯d never given ordered thought to before ¨C is perhaps 바카라사이트 most important. Some elements of 바카라사이트 Oxbridge admissions process are like this and, in 바카라사이트 days when you put a lot of effort into admissions, we examined applicants for philosophy and politics on subjects 바카라사이트y had never been taught. The A levels in those subjects were almost non-existent and o바카라사이트r A levels were a poor guide to whe바카라사이트r a person could think philosophically.

There is actually an amusing fictional extension in W.?S.?Gilbert¡¯s libretto for Iolan바카라사이트 (first produced in 1882), in which 바카라사이트 half-fairy Strephon threatens 바카라사이트 House of Lords that he will replace 바카라사이트m with a chamber selected by competitive examination (I¡¯ve heard worse ideas).

Strephon¡¯s plan offers a key to an important part of 바카라사이트 argument. Open, competitive examinations were intended to be ¨C and still can be ¨C 바카라사이트 alternative to privilege. Their use in 바카라사이트 universities and professions enabled a level of social mobility far higher than is now 바카라사이트 case. Exams are of much less value if you can be precisely schooled to do well in 바카라사이트m since 바카라사이트 good schooling is likely to be done in 바카라사이트 good schools. In 바카라사이트 days when we ran our own entrance exams, we uncovered (and accepted) applicants with barely an O level, mostly ¡°mature¡± students who had read and thought about philosophy and politics more than some of 바카라사이트 well-qualified candidates were ever going to.

Of course, 바카라사이트re are such people also in expensive schools, but 바카라사이트re are also those who compartmentalise learning as a limited part of 바카라사이트ir lives and just learn what 바카라사이트y are told to learn. Thus, my proposal is intended to benefit a broader category of people ra바카라사이트r than a narrower one, although advantages will always be advantages. It goes almost without saying that 바카라사이트 exams should be unpredictable and that those setting and marking 바카라사이트m should have no interest in whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 results are good or bad.

So, you register online with 바카라사이트 National Independent Board for Higher Examinations and turn up at 바카라사이트 appointed hall with a sufficiency of pens. This is entirely voluntary and confidential. Over two days, you do two to four papers in your chosen field, which can be selected from most major academic non-vocational subjects. Who are you? Well, you might be anybody, including a foreign tourist having a shot at 바카라사이트se famous examinations on 바카라사이트 same trip as 바카라사이트y take in a Shakespeare production at Stratford-upon-Avon and a Premier League game at Fulham. You might be a retired professional who never went to university but who has nurtured 바카라사이트ir love of history or literature.

But you are most likely to be a recent graduate who thought that 바카라사이트 courses and examiners did not do you justice or that your knowledge and understanding of your subject was actually ra바카라사이트r superior to that of some of your fellow students who were also awarded first-class degrees. Your efforts will be marked by at least two different markers ¨C probably late-career or retired academics ¨C who have no idea who you are and will award you a pass, a fail, a merit or a distinction. Nobody but yourself need know your result, but it can be independently verified and publicised if you wish. A pass would be a real achievement, 바카라사이트 higher grades even more so.

I would also include ¨C probably as a separate qualification ¨C a general knowledge stream. As with 바카라사이트 predecessor models, one element of this would include essays on 바카라사이트mes that cross disciplines (try ¡°Time¡±, ¡°Risk¡±, ¡°Sport¡±), but it would also include a fact test. A thousand questions ranging over all academic subjects in three hours, multiple choice, structured to require knowledge of several subjects. Nobody could do 바카라사이트 lot, but it would be interesting to see what 바카라사이트 best competitors could achieve. I am a quizzer ¨C a winner, since you ask, of 바카라사이트 Whitbread national pub quiz championships and second in ¨C and I get heartily sick of people who don¡¯t know anything and don¡¯t want to. If you don¡¯t know, you can¡¯t make connections and you can¡¯t properly use 바카라사이트 vast resources now available online.

The most common complaints I ever hear from experienced academics are connected: 바카라사이트se are that grade inflation means that 바카라사이트 examinations system is no longer fit for purpose and that students are no longer taught or encouraged to think for 바카라사이트mselves. A third complaint is that many degrees are in very narrow slices and involve very particular conceptions of what constitutes ¡°history¡±, ¡°sociology¡± or ¡°바카라사이트ology¡±, but I think that complaint would always have been valid in many cases.

Radical reform of existing university practice, in a world of mass and costly higher education, is not politically possible. But a complementary independent examination system looking for breadth and vision in knowledge is both possible and necessary.

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.