Barbara Ellen rightly criticised the "two-tier child society" which exists in modern Britain, with financially advantaged "absurdly mollycoddled" (While well-off children are cosseted, we throw poorer kids to the wolves, 30.09.18). What she didn`t mention is how the pampering continues up to university age, with many schools in the private sector now replacing A-levels with Pre-U exams, mostly marked and set by private school teachers, and with very high A*-A grade percentages.
The examination watchdog, Ofqual, does regulate Pre-U exams, but does not apply what it called in a response to a FOI inquiry, "additional rules", which are only relevant to A-levels; Cambridge Assessment, which runs the Pre-U exams, is not obliged, for example, to review "similar qualifications made available by other awarding organisations" to promote consistency.
Cosseting rich children reaches heights of absurdity when they are no longer expected to take the same university entrance exams as everyone else. It`s bad enough that children in our massively underfunded state schools have to compete with privately educated pupils for the same university places, but allowing the latter to use a different route is simply indefensible!
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