It has only been 10 years or so since I sat my A levels, but my, how things have changed! In my GCSE day (oh how I hate to use that sentence!), we had to take the core subjects (English, Maths, all the Sciences) as well as History, Geography and a Technology (cookery for the “girls” and wood or metal work for the “boys”). And no matter what type of family you came from, you had to sit these subjects, and were encouraged by the school to give each one your all.

It appears that in most schools, they will select which subjects a pupil should sit, based on how well they perform, thus giving them a good excuse to not try harder at the basics.

This most definitely lulls our young adults into a false sense of security; all jobs will require some aspect of communication, thus making English skills a necessity, and most will require some capabilities with math. Our education system should not be promoting a false sense of achievement; it should be aimed at getting the next generation ready for the real world, and enabling them to be the best that they can be.