Are you like me less than impressed with the Government's figures on achievement at A-level this year?
Are you also of my view that more than 23 per cent of candidates achieving A grade or better can't be right? And what is an "A star" anyway? And whatever happened to the three hour papers we all had to slog over in the school hall with a hundred others?
And does anybody remember actually writing a project without copying it verbatim from some website or other?
Does anybody in the corridors of power ever consider how difficult it is to sift out the candidates of true quality from the chaff of thousands of applicants with apparently similar academic achievements?
In the law we like to select the very best candidates. Alevel results followed by a degree from a quality university represented the gold standard against which we could measure with a reasonable level of certainty a particular candidate's suitability.
Frankly, I couldn't believe it when I read that universities intend to replace the current system of first, upper second, lower second with something as meaningless as distinction and pass. This is against the background of a summer of press articles expressing the view that there has been "dumbing down" and an overall general decline in academic standards.
They tell us we will get a type of school report together with the new grade that will help a prospective employer to identify the real candidates of quality. So how long is this report going to be? And who will write it?
Let me guess. It will take longer to read than the time the already busy recruitment partner has got to spend and it will be written by the personal tutor to the student or some other equally biased individual.
It will talk about how little Jonnie had worked very hard for three solid years but just on the very day of the exam had a mild head cold and only achieved a pass after all.
It is no wonder that eight universities have got together to create a pre-entrance examination for those seeking a legal career. Birmingham is one of them. Good for them, I say.
At least this will give us a fighting chance of still finding the candidates of true quality. n Nigel Wood is senior partner at Birmingham law firm The Wilkes Partnership.
