Friday, 26 August 2011

Media malfunction

A short snippet in The Times today, as part of its coverage of GCSE examination results:
Deborah Thorpe passed her GCSE maths ten years before her classmates will even attempt the exam (Monique Rubins writes). The six-year-old from Chadwell Heath, East London, had extra lessons on Saturdays to help her achieve her E grade and took the exam when she was still only 5.
This is the story as it appears on the website of the Barking and Dagenham Post. There is probably a "back story" behind the Saturday morning lessons, though the not watching television during the week seems quite commendable.

But, as far as GCSE examinations are concerned, an E grade is not generally considered to be a pass grade. Only grades C and above are usually counted as pass grades. Oops!

A bit like the BBC and its failure to recognise that going on 2 million young people gathering to celebrate a vigil and Mass with Pope Benedict XVI was a news story....

UPDATE: The BBC are also carrying the GCSE Maths story.

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