I think quality is dropping. For example, in the USA, it was proported that if you found a physician that was Board Certified, you could be confident that he was competent and up to date with the latest knowledge in his/her field. But as revealed in the news media recently, physicians to be tested are given the questions and answers from previous exams, so they can memorize these before the exam. Then after taking their exams, they would write down as many of the questions they could remember so that these would be passes on to future candidates. So being Board Certified is now a sham. It simply reveals how well you memorized the answers.
Another example, is the LSAT test that is given to students who want to enter a private high school. I was tutoring math to a student who had to take the LSAT test. So I needed to help him prepare for the math portion of the test. The organization provided examples of some of the questions from previous tests, in order to get an idea of the types of questions to be asked. What I discovered was that a relatively small proportion of the questions actually dealt with math. The others dealt with techniques for taking tests. All the answers were multiple choice (4 possible choices for each question). The most important technique for achieving a high score was to: a) review all the choices to see which ones could not possibly be the correct answers – they might be impossibly large or small quantities or they might be expressed in inappropriate units; b) eliminate these obviously wrong answers; c) you were usually left with only one surviving answer – which you selected as your choice. In other words you did not have to know the math; and if you did know the math you did not have to apply it; and, furthermore, if you did apply the math, it might take too much time to finish all the questions in the allotted time. So passing the LSAT is also a sham. It simply reveals how well you learned the techniques for taking an LSAT test.
I do think quality is dropping. In UK there seem to be fewer students opting to take sciences as discrete subjects, and very few taking up teaching training for sciences, especially physics. The result is that the subjects are being taught by non subject specialists who often lack fundamental knowledge of the topics.
I also did a comparative analysis of 'A'Level physics papers with ''O' level physics papers. Over a period of 5 years, I found that questions that had normally been set as the old 'O' Level papers ( lower level than 'A' level) were now appearing as Advanced level questions. A clear drop in standrard.
The answer is to try to make science subjects have more appeal than is currently the case. Too many students see these topics as hard and so opt for what they perceive to be easier options. What it needs is better delivery of the subjects in schools, a greater emphasis on relevance to encourage students to take these subjects further. I also feel that experiential learning for these is essential, but Health & Safety rules appear to have reduced a lot of the practical elements so there is more reading and wathcing videos to cover experimental work.
Thank you for answering the question.We need to continue the discussion.
One thing that I think is VERY significant is that, after many months, you are the first person to respond.
Is the global society like the proverbial frog being boiled alive, by slowly, incrementally raising the temperature of the water without the frog detecting what is happening?
I have many ideas on the subject. When I get a little time, I would like to contribute more to this discussion.
In the meantime, I would like to say that what you say is disheartening. I had taught in East Africa when it was getting its independence fro Britain (circa 1962). At that time the quality of the "maths" was very good. Based on what you say, I fear that the quality in that field is probably dropping too.
I am afraid that mathematics levels are also reducing. Thisis due to the fact that much more mathematics teaching in early years is carried out with pupils working on their own from set workbooks, checking their own answers and then after giving scores in moving to the next book. There is far less actual teaching of worked examples and guidance, so that basic understanding does not become embedded. While I appreciate that current academic theories like to encourage deep learning, i found that in the early years this is not picking up on those who need much closer monitoring and repeated supportive teaching. I was teaching advanced level physics and found I had to teach basic maths skills that I had expected students to have gained in early years of their maths. Some could not even re- arrange a simple equation!
I too would like the opportunity to discuss this question of standards as it has a knock on effect on those planning to progress to university and also on lack of competency in basic skills in the workplace.
There are proximate causes and ultimate causes. If we want to improve a situation it is much more effective to address the ultimate cause because everything follows from that.
In this case, I believe the ultimate cause is our Western belief system that making money with the least effort is the ideal. This ideal permeates most parts of our economy, including services like education and medicine.
It is the exception that a teacher or a doctor devote the time really necessary to understand each of their clients well and then tailor their service to the client's particular needs and conditions. To most practitioners, it takes too much time. They could be making more money by "processing" more clients. The only way they can make "enough" money for a small number of clients is to charge extremely high rates (as in "boutique medicine" or in private tutoring for the children of the rich).
If QUALITY can be made a virtue instead of QUANTITY, then many of our societal problems would diminish. Intellectuals need to rethink what we are doing and their consequences and begin, through writings, lectures, and through the arts (especially movies) show a better ideal for the people to follow. But it has to be done in a nonthreatening way, otherwise the powerful will squash it before it has any effect.
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