The second A Level General paper was from June 1968. This continued the expectation that the students had a far wider knowledge of 'current affairs' than could surely have been possible for a seventeen/eighteen-year old. These papers must have been primarily designed to see if one could simply write an essay. Alternatively, they could have been designed to weed out the independent school student - the children of politicians, farmers, diplomats, teachers or the professions - from the state school ones.
Here are some more examples:
- What big advances in medicine (including surgery) have been made in the last thirty years? What further advances seem at present likely before the century ends? It would have been a bold student who mentioned MRI scanning, the eradication of polio, cancer treatments, stem cell advances ... How on earth could they begin to know?
- 'Lives of great men all remind us / As we from their pages turn, / That we too may leave behind us / Papers that we ought to burn.' Comment on this in the light of biographies you have read. And how many biographies has the average 17-year old read today?
- 'Comedy should be placeless and timeless; it does not need gimmicks.' Justify this statement with examples from the comedy (not restricted to the theatre) of different ages. This was from a period before television comedy got under way and assumes that one has studied the history of theatre or at least seen comedies from different ages.
- Has the rush to grant independence to new states in Asia and Africa been justified by results? Ouch! The Sixties had indeed seen a tidal wave of countries becoming independent but how impatient of us to ask whether the results were justified after only a handful of years. Can we not allow them a generation or even two? And how can a student have any real idea in an era when few will have travelled to any of the countries concerned? Of course, it was to winnow out the sons of diplomats, colonial officers and British Council staff.
- Discuss the present state and the possible future of agriculture in an increasingly urbanised and industrialised Britain. Not a question designed to appeal to many inner city lads. The 1967 paper also had a question which mentioned the concreting over of Britain suggesting it was a current theme.
- Can bad men write good books? Give a reasoned verdict. How lucky they were to live in a world so easily divided into good and bad.
- 'Profit' has recently come to be regarded as a dirty word. How dirty do you consider it to be, and why? This was in the days before the famous line 'the unacceptable face(t) of capitalism'.
Perhaps the modern critics of the A Level system have a point: the questions have become easier over the years, but these questions were written for young people growing up in a pre-mass media, pre-television, pre-internet age and assume some sort of ideal student who had read biographies and plays, and who had an informed view of agriculture, medicine, science, architecture and planning. In other words a miniature adult. No doubt that is what Mr Gove aspires to once again.
It is hard even to imagine what naive drivel was produced in answer to some of these questions.
Don't miss the next episode: a few questions from the actual subject papers.
Saturday 24 May 2014
Monday 19 May 2014
General questions
Rootling in the loft recently, we came across some A Level exam papers from 1967 and 1968. The questions relating to the main subjects were completely incomprehensible. Once upon a time we might have been able to understand the questions and we have the evidence in the form of a certificate that we actually knew enough to get more than an 'Unclassified' or whatever was awarded in those days.
It was the General papers that provided the most interest not only because we could actually understand the questions but because they provided a glimpse of the exam system of the time. They also suggest that pupils of the time were either much more sophisticated than their equivalent today, that the examiners were expecting them to be so or that they were trying to impose a 'grown-upness' on the young of the late sixties.
Here is a sample of the 1967 questions.
- Discuss, with examples of one or more well-known artists, the aims of the portrait painter. What effects has the development of photography had on the painting of portraits? This is in a general paper, not an Art A Level
- Write a critical appreciation of any opera or ballet you have seen. (Every aspect of the work and its performance should be considered.) It is good to see only highbrow entertainment being allowed but what does that threatening remark in the bracket really mean?
- Give an account of the origins and development of Jazz music. To what extent do you regard modern 'pop' music as a form of Jazz or as a revolt from it?
- Describe the satisfaction you have received from the formal, as distinct from the representational, elements and qualities of one work of art in any medium. Um ...
It goes on to ask one to comment on the proposition that 'When science comes in at the door, common-sense flies out the window'; whether we prefer the work of contemporary novelists to the novels of an earlier generation, with examples; whether the public image of the poet has changed from that of fifty to sixty years ago, and how; and whether we agree that 'morality is only a majority opinion on social conduct - and at that the opinion of a bygone generation'.
In a later section - only one question may be answered from each section - we are asked how much influence and what kind is exercised in the world by the British Commonwealth and what is needed to enable the Commonwealth to survive; we are invited to suggested the changes that are imminent in Western Europe and the NATO Alliance and what effect these will have (it was the height of the Cold War); we are asked to 'account for the rapid increase in organised crime'; and, most surprisingly, we are invited to consider whether it is a fair appraisal of the British political scene that 'While the Tories become more and more radical and Labour more and more conservative, the Liberals vociferously support both sides of every question'. Ouch! It is hard to imagine this last question being acceptable in today's politically-sensitive environment.
To answer these questions intelligently in a 45 minutes essay would require considerable knowledge of what used to be called current affairs and is now known as 'politics'. It would also require a degree of prescience not normally found in 18 year olds. Mr Gove would be proud as would any Etonian who had been faced with the question starting 'You are the Prime Minister of Britain and ....' in his entrance exam, taken when he was 13 years old.
These are not questions likely to be answerable by the vast majority of today's young.
It was the General papers that provided the most interest not only because we could actually understand the questions but because they provided a glimpse of the exam system of the time. They also suggest that pupils of the time were either much more sophisticated than their equivalent today, that the examiners were expecting them to be so or that they were trying to impose a 'grown-upness' on the young of the late sixties.
Here is a sample of the 1967 questions.
- Discuss, with examples of one or more well-known artists, the aims of the portrait painter. What effects has the development of photography had on the painting of portraits? This is in a general paper, not an Art A Level
- Write a critical appreciation of any opera or ballet you have seen. (Every aspect of the work and its performance should be considered.) It is good to see only highbrow entertainment being allowed but what does that threatening remark in the bracket really mean?
- Give an account of the origins and development of Jazz music. To what extent do you regard modern 'pop' music as a form of Jazz or as a revolt from it?
- Describe the satisfaction you have received from the formal, as distinct from the representational, elements and qualities of one work of art in any medium. Um ...
It goes on to ask one to comment on the proposition that 'When science comes in at the door, common-sense flies out the window'; whether we prefer the work of contemporary novelists to the novels of an earlier generation, with examples; whether the public image of the poet has changed from that of fifty to sixty years ago, and how; and whether we agree that 'morality is only a majority opinion on social conduct - and at that the opinion of a bygone generation'.
In a later section - only one question may be answered from each section - we are asked how much influence and what kind is exercised in the world by the British Commonwealth and what is needed to enable the Commonwealth to survive; we are invited to suggested the changes that are imminent in Western Europe and the NATO Alliance and what effect these will have (it was the height of the Cold War); we are asked to 'account for the rapid increase in organised crime'; and, most surprisingly, we are invited to consider whether it is a fair appraisal of the British political scene that 'While the Tories become more and more radical and Labour more and more conservative, the Liberals vociferously support both sides of every question'. Ouch! It is hard to imagine this last question being acceptable in today's politically-sensitive environment.
To answer these questions intelligently in a 45 minutes essay would require considerable knowledge of what used to be called current affairs and is now known as 'politics'. It would also require a degree of prescience not normally found in 18 year olds. Mr Gove would be proud as would any Etonian who had been faced with the question starting 'You are the Prime Minister of Britain and ....' in his entrance exam, taken when he was 13 years old.
These are not questions likely to be answerable by the vast majority of today's young.
Sunday 11 May 2014
Customer service - Banking style
It is really too easy to knock banks. Yes, of course they pay themselves eye-watering bonuses but that is because they are 'the best people' and without that quality of people, they would not be able to provide the superb level of service that they do.
We have the good-fortune to use two different on-line banking systems.The one from Barclays comes from the same Disney-inspired design stable as some of Microsoft's work, narrowly avoiding putting everything into Comic Sans. The wonderful pop-up screen that fills 2/3 of the screen contains lots of logos and other unhelpful information while leaving the 'OK' button just below the bottom of the screen so that you have to scroll down to find it; every time. Has no one told them or have those 'best people' not listened?
Then there is the RBS Bankline one which allows you to give your accounts a 'Alias' which is more memorable than their abbreviation of the account name but then does not allow you to use it and expects you to remember the numbers of all your business accounts. They too have a problem with things fitting on the screen and have produced something which looks like a techie's first rough.
Working with these streamlined, customer-friendly organisations is straightforward too: witness this recent message when we tried to set up a new Direct Debit payment system:
Notification of AUDDIS Migration Date - Service User Number : XXXX
Further to the submission of the above application form to Vocalink Ltd, and completion of successful testing I am pleased to confirm your Service User Number has been allocated a ‘Migration’ date for DD/MM/YYY(note; this date is the BACS Processing date and the Migration file should be submitted the working day before).
IMPORTANT : An AUDDIS 'migration' file must contain ALL DDIs held against the SUN(Service User Number). The file must be sent as a 'live' file and only the AUDDIS special transaction code of 0S is to be used. - Please refer to the AUDDIS migration guide page 17 for details.
Please also note that after being in 'migrate' status for 4 weeks you need to be set to full 'live' status. To go fully live you must ensure ALL DDI's are converted onto AUDDIS, and that you do not post D/D mandates to banks when setting up new instructions. We will contact you at this time to check these items before we make the change on the bacs site. Please refer to the AUDDIS migration guide for further details.
Should you have any queries regarding this please contact our Help Desk as soon as possible on 0870 240 5544/156 6680 option 1.
Thank You
The layout and spacing is exactly as it came through by email and it was not from a front-line person. It was from the 'second level of support'. Exciting eh? It certainly made it easy to set up the new arrangement.
We have the good-fortune to use two different on-line banking systems.The one from Barclays comes from the same Disney-inspired design stable as some of Microsoft's work, narrowly avoiding putting everything into Comic Sans. The wonderful pop-up screen that fills 2/3 of the screen contains lots of logos and other unhelpful information while leaving the 'OK' button just below the bottom of the screen so that you have to scroll down to find it; every time. Has no one told them or have those 'best people' not listened?
Then there is the RBS Bankline one which allows you to give your accounts a 'Alias' which is more memorable than their abbreviation of the account name but then does not allow you to use it and expects you to remember the numbers of all your business accounts. They too have a problem with things fitting on the screen and have produced something which looks like a techie's first rough.
Working with these streamlined, customer-friendly organisations is straightforward too: witness this recent message when we tried to set up a new Direct Debit payment system:
Notification of AUDDIS Migration Date - Service User Number : XXXX
Further to the submission of the above application form to Vocalink Ltd, and completion of successful testing I am pleased to confirm your Service User Number has been allocated a ‘Migration’ date for DD/MM/YYY(note; this date is the BACS Processing date and the Migration file should be submitted the working day before).
IMPORTANT : An AUDDIS 'migration' file must contain ALL DDIs held against the SUN(Service User Number). The file must be sent as a 'live' file and only the AUDDIS special transaction code of 0S is to be used. - Please refer to the AUDDIS migration guide page 17 for details.
Please also note that after being in 'migrate' status for 4 weeks you need to be set to full 'live' status. To go fully live you must ensure ALL DDI's are converted onto AUDDIS, and that you do not post D/D mandates to banks when setting up new instructions. We will contact you at this time to check these items before we make the change on the bacs site. Please refer to the AUDDIS migration guide for further details.
Should you have any queries regarding this please contact our Help Desk as soon as possible on 0870 240 5544/156 6680 option 1.
Thank You
The layout and spacing is exactly as it came through by email and it was not from a front-line person. It was from the 'second level of support'. Exciting eh? It certainly made it easy to set up the new arrangement.
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