Our deepest fear?

[cpwigan]

You are not allowed to 'fail' any more.

I always find it ironic that Standish High School was a great school in my day but the % A - C then would equal special measures today. Now the figures are amazing.

Winstanley College let most people in in my day. Hell they let me and Steve Ganson in! Now you have to be a sure pass / points score to get in.

[SJ]

We are as a nation embarrassed by success and even more so by confidence.

There are numerous examples of this, our country would much rather see a loser that tries hard than a winner.

Look at the treatment of Tomkins or hamilton if you asked tennis fans they'd probably tell you they prefer henman to murray.

I think that there are standard cases that support your conjecture but equally there are standard cases that refute it. Either way I don't think the generalisation you make is well founded. (Pace CP)

Look at the schooling system - removing prizes for winning at sports days as an example is that not a massive statement to our youth about life?

Probably so but thanks to CP introducing me to the subject of Genetics I think I can safely say that it will not dampen our competitive desire. It's in our genes

Cp says he went to Winstanley Collage as did Steve Ganson. Hecan't be such an "old fart" then as you once described himself Uphillend Grammar School was a good school. Both have been named in the past as being in the top rated education centres in the country. So what happened to him and Steve (only joking.

[SJ]

I think that there are standard cases that support your conjecture but equally there are standard cases that refute it. Either way I don't think the generalisation you make is well founded. (Pace CP)

Look at the schooling system - removing prizes for winning at sports days as an example is that not a massive statement to our youth about life?

Probably so but thanks to CP introducing me to the subject of Genetics I think I can safely say that it will not dampen our competitive desire. It's in our genes

Cp says he went to Winstanley Collage as did Steve Ganson. Hecan't be such an "old fart" then as he once described himself Uphillend Grammar School was a good school. Both have been named in the past as being in the top rated education centres in the country. So what happened to him and Steve (only joking.

[cpwigan]

I think that there are standard cases that support your conjecture but equally there are standard cases that refute it. Either way I don't think the generalisation you make is well founded. (Pace CP)

Look at the schooling system - removing prizes for winning at sports days as an example is that not a massive statement to our youth about life?

Probably so but thanks to CP introducing me to the subject of Genetics I think I can safely say that it will not dampen our competitive desire. It's in our genes

Cp says he went to Winstanley Collage as did Steve Ganson. Hecan't be such an "old fart" then as you once described himself Uphillend Grammar School was a good school. Both have been named in the past as being in the top rated education centres in the country. So what happened to him and Steve (only joking.

lol I daresay others would ask the same. I know Ganson would not get in today (He did a non A level course; Certificate Of Pre Vocational Education - I doubt they would even run such a course today yet it probably helped him and others enormously). I would probably sneak in. They were more fussy even then than say Wigan Tech but now are incredibly fussy and you have to be a sure A level pass with good grades to get in. At every level in education, the headline figures and the number of students and the funding they collectively bring is the bottom line. Arguably, the staff at every level work far harder than ever before because you cannot let anybody fail and damage the statistics/reputation. Winstanley 2016 is as good as anywhere by modern measurement techniques. It has a fantastic reputation North West wise, possibly nation wide The best lesson I had at Winstanley were from a superb teacher academically too but those lessons would not merit a mention on number crunching stat tables. Joe publicwill see this year that several Wigan schools results seemed to go down or up stupidly but the schools, teachers are still as good as ever, just the number crunching goal post stat figures have changed so the schools are chasing their tails again.

No different in any public sector activity where politicians 'play' to get headline figures that they can use when acting like infants and playing with peoples lives.