A Civitas* survey of teachers claims that they believe trained monkeys could pass A Level exams, according to the Metro<\/a>. And the Press Association.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

One director of A-levels, based in the North West, told researchers: “You could train a monkey to do the questions today.”
\nAnother head of sixth-form from the East Midlands said: “This is Mickey Mouse stuff – what they learn at A-level today is not sufficient for GCSE. The system is an absolute shambles. The standard of the candidates is very low – it’s a national disgrace.” (from the Press Association)<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(How bad at teaching must these surveyed teachers be, then, if their human pupils fail? )<\/p>\n

I, for one, welcome our new simian overlords. <\/p>\n

So – in the interests of helping monkeys to achieve University entrance qualifications – I’ve drafted an A Level paper that monkeys (or at least the orangutan, in Terry Pratchett’s novels, who says “Ook”) could have a fair shot at passing.
\n——————————————————-
\nPaper II English Written, Advanced Level, June 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Answer ALL questions. Write on both sides of the paper. Points will be deducted for bad spelling.<\/p>\n

Time: 100 years<\/p>\n

1 You are provided with a typewriter. Type out the complete works of Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

===============================================
\nPaper II English Oral, Advanced Level, June 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Complete the following sentences by saying the missing syllables:<\/p>\n

A “War and Peace” is a b…
\nB “A thief” is another word for a cr…
\nC The castle chess piece is also known as a r…<\/p>\n

2. Express your response to the following statements through appropriate gestures:<\/p>\n

A When I read about mock surveys carried out by spurious “think tanks”, I feel like doing this.
\nB When I can’t find any mention of said “survey” of “teachers” on the thinktank’s website, I feel like doing this.
\nC This survey is a load of ….
\n(Extra credit may be earned by baboons here)<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Supplementary Notes<\/strong>
\n* Civitas is a “thinktank” which is also a registered charity. That means it gets tax relief on donations. Which seems quite amazing, given that it seems to have no purpose but to spread right-wing propaganda.
\nNo wait, it also funds an education establishment, which luckily brings it under the remit of the Charity Commission’s qualifications.
\nTo quote Sarah Hall writing in the Guardian in 2004<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rightwing thinktank’s school aims to teach traditional culture<\/strong>
\nA rightwing thinktank which promotes pamphlets opposing immigration and asylum is writing to supporters urging them to help fund a school because it fears “our culture is in serious decline – one might say meltdown”….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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