Keith Devens .com - Weblog: The Spectator: Dumbing down: the proof

Friday, December 10, 2004

The Spectator: Dumbing down: the proof

As a service to Spectator readers who still have any doubts about the decline in educational standards, we are printing these exam papers taken by 11-year-olds applying for places to King Edward’s School in Birmingham in 1898.

For real? Via Scott at Wunderkinder.

Permalink | 4 Comments | id 6217

01:06 (utc-5)

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There are a lot of factors to consider; what counts as passing, whether they tended to teach to the test, and what in the world the GCM of two numbers mean. But in general, I do think most tests here are too easy. I find it far more interesting when a test includes easy questions that progressively advance to impossibly difficult questions, but the tendency here is to boost self-esteem and make tests that feasibly most people can get 100% on at that age.

GCM is greatest common multiple. GCM of 7 and 2 is 14, GCM of 8 and 2 is 8.

∴ Keith | 10-Dec-2004 3:07pm est | http://keithdevens.com/ | #6572

I thought that was the least common multiple. 'cause 16 is a multiple of 8 and 2 but is greater than 8.

Ha, you're right. I mixed up GCD and LCM. What the heck is the GCM?

∴ Keith | 10-Dec-2004 7:18pm est | http://keithdevens.com/ | #6579

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