All over the country able kids are being 'encouraged' to take lots of GCSEs. The more they get the better the school looks in the all important league tables. Yet is this good for the kids involved? Educationally the answer must be 'no'. The GCSE is a flawed exam as it is; 'successful' schools are exam factories that drag pupils through endless redrafts of inconsequential coursework and drill the poor little blighters into answering exam questions in a robotic way, rather than encouraging individual thought and style. The morality of all this has been ignored in the unseemly pursuit of exam targets instead of the higher values of a transformative education. Are the kids doing well out of having 13 GCSEs? No, they are stressed and have no time to do the things that matter.
It is about time we limited the number of subjects that are taken at GCSE, encouraged schools, kids and parents to value educating the whole child. Sport, Music, Theatre, Poetry Appreciation, Outward Bound Courses, Debating Societies, Voluntary Work etc. are all far more valuable than 5 more GCSEs.
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