Universities Devaluing Degrees

A recent survey has been drawn discussing the university degrees in the United Kingdom becoming less and less credible. One report mentions that the majority of students are leaving Universities with 2.1 degrees, and the increase in 1st degrees rises each year. This statistic, instead of being seen as an exciting prospect to future students, is being judged with synacism and scepticism. I’m not entirely sure that any country treats their future students and workers with such disdain as much as the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, it is not just the degree level students that get attacked by the media, but also growing students partaking in their A-levels, and even in the GCSE’s. As do degree students, each year a new statistic describes a greater increase in grades from the previous levels in GCSE and A-level marks; why must this mean that students are cheating? Do sceptics really believe that the different study levels are really getting easier? I think the whole idea is ridiculous; who are these people that write the statistics? Surely, a simple way to actually get real results is by matching up exam papers from previous years, not by judging results from papers; for example [1972 -A grades 50,000; 2009 -A grades -200,00] Is the whole idea now that students are cheating? One explanation for this can simply be that the tuition fees that have more than doubled in the past three years have allowed the universities to employ better lecturers, increased resources, thus creating a better student-subject knowledge.

I feel that all the controversy surrounding increasing grades is surely not going to keep children in school, but instead, force them out to leave and fend for themselves at a very early age; surely this isn’t the way we want society to go, especially in this recessional age.