Quick, put O levels in the memory hole
What struck me in this story about how private schools are abandoning the GCSE because New Labour have dumbed it down to the point of uselessness was that the regulator of qualifications is called Ofqual.Orwell is spinning in his grave. The regulator whose business is to make sure kids are unqualified is the regulator of qualifications, and the solid, traditional name "Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator" is just too much for modern Airstrip One, so we have Ofqual.
Guys, 1984 was fiction, not a blueprint.
posted by Dr Zen @ 11:27 am
4 Comments:
the mind conceives and man achieves
"We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted."
Not sure how the quote relates to what I said. My point was that 1984 was imagined. It might only be a matter of time before it comes true, just like many of Jules Verne's tales imagined a possible reality that has, in some ways, come to pass.
Was that a quote from 1984? I read it when I was 16. Many years in between to forget.
Did you read the article about spaced-learning? I found that quite interesting, though I'm not sure that I'd use the method in quite the same form. I can see the benefit of chunking a lesson into parts interspersed with physical activity, but who'd want to sit through day after day of just Power Points? Blech.
Somehow this seems related to the Orwellian future, and also to your reference Z to "bars to entry" in some earlier post.
"...they wanted us to show that we had £25,000 in sponsorship to prove that we could establish the business..."
So the real qualification requirements for a broadcasting station in the UK are (a) £25,000 in sponsorship, or (b) a willingness to defy the authorities.
It reminds me of smoking pot in 1968 when even possession of a single joint was a felony.
Oddly when I peek into Room 101 what I see there is a strange combination of omnipotence and confusion that reminds me of Forbidden Planet but is far too real to reside there.
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