From the UK Times Online

“School subjects should be ranked according to difficulty to help pupils and academics determine the merits of a particular set of A levels, a leading education expert has said… All subjects are not equal and Government exam agencies should introduce league tables reflecting this, Professor Peter Tymms, director of the Centre for Education and Monitoring at Durham University, said today… He also called for university subject tables to recognise the fact that the same degrees from different universities are not of equal quality.”

Let me get this straight… Rather than fixing grade inflation; Rather than enforcing already existent standards; Rather than recognizing that a curve actually does exist, and if it doesn’t the class material and grading isn’t matched appropriately… As opposed to all this, the UK is suggesting that another reform is necessary to deal with the fact that they are ot auditing?

One main issue within contemporary education is that of the curve and/or grade inflation.  Grades are no longer reflective of content mastered and as a result educators have shifted between solutions of Portfolios, Progressfolios, Grades, and the latest suggestion of Ranked Difficulty.  Yet, the question remains, ranked on whose standard?  Ranked by whom?  What determines the categories and measuerments?

Unfortunately, since this plays into the standardization crys, the answer to these questions is most likely some sort of new government office for this next method of oversight.

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