tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4159906646513306121.post2728643130258226175..comments2023-11-19T20:38:50.237-08:00Comments on Economic Logic: Breaking the monopoly on state sanctioned diplomas: Enter McEducationEconomic Logicianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171296292101248614noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4159906646513306121.post-37111331484026398642008-02-04T21:46:00.000-08:002008-02-04T21:46:00.000-08:00Finally got round to noticing that you had followe...Finally got round to noticing that you had followed up: I guess that my main point was that there never were diplomas: if they exist now, then I think that it's a bad thing.<BR/>And if they move to a system of national tests, that's great, so long as it has the good point of the system of national tests they used to have for decades.<BR/>As a professional in the ed biz in the US, I hate the fact that schools have no check on their ability to promote their favourite candidates, except for standardized tests such as the SAT (and I feel that they are useless: I can score well on subjects I know little about because I am good at standardized tests). The A level system was that you took (if I recall correctly from thrumptysevix years ago) two or three three hour papers, occasionally with a minority component being multiple choice: in my case, I did double mathematics, physics and economics, and the economics exam had one multiple choice paper worth 25% or so: the other papers were all long answer, free response. I can't, by and large, in a university setting here at a decent mid-level university, set questions that hard. <BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>N.BreadBoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14551973313066578118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4159906646513306121.post-22298189972195927812008-01-29T15:14:00.000-08:002008-01-29T15:14:00.000-08:00Point well taken about the British system. It rema...Point well taken about the British system. It remains that the latest move will increase the complexity of figuring out what a diploma is worth, and that ultimately the solution will be that some sort of uniform testing agency will emerge.Economic Logicianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171296292101248614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4159906646513306121.post-86314833640011650922008-01-28T18:55:00.000-08:002008-01-28T18:55:00.000-08:00Actually, British high schools have never really i...Actually, British high schools have never really issued diplomas: just as most British universities a couple of decades ago had no idea what an "official transcript" was --- I sat down with my academic adviser and invented a letter that might cover the topics that grad schools wanted to see, and walked over to the appropriate office to get the official seal on it!<BR/><BR/>A-levels are administered by independent bodies (typically associated with but quasi-independent of a university or universities): my school chose to have their students take the Oxford Board O and A levels. The exams are graded completely blind, in a completely different part of the country: one's teacher had no direct influence on the grade one received on an A-level, other than how good a job they had already done in teaching you.<BR/>Private and "Public" (exclusive, private) schools have long existed in the UK. Most of them still use the A and O levels as assessment tools. A few schools offer the chance to study for the International Baccalaureate. And the system of O and A levels has be eviscerated in the past fifteen or twenty years, with exams being made easier, and possibly giving more local control to teachers (and in a disastrous move, giving the idea that short term learning is sufficient, instead of encouraging learning a body of material as a two year task: which really does emphasize long term study habits). All of my first hand knowledge is out of date, but certainly the system has been other than you have described it: and probably still is too.<BR/><BR/>Best,<BR/>Neil.BreadBoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14551973313066578118noreply@blogger.com