As nervous schoolchildren around the country await vital exam results next week the nation's newspaper columnists have complained that bemoaning falling standards and push-over qualifications is getting easier every year.
A level scores due out on 18 August are expected to show the highest ever number of column inches devoted to whether or not the exams are too easy. A record 100 per cent of copies of the Daily Telegraph will carry a picture of sloaney sixth form girls celebrating and commiserating together on the morning that results come out.
There is also expected to be a sharp rise in the number of newspapers running pious Op Ed pieces by ministers and teachers defending the academic triumph of the next generation.
'The exams are getting easier, it was never like this in my day,' said one columnist.
'The kids are getting cleverer, I can't do my 13-year-old's maths homework,' said another.
Bookers for television news and current affairs programmes have complained that the rising number of people claiming qualifications to comment on the subject was making it difficult to choose the best candidates to interview and put on panel discussions.
'Everyone has written 1200 words on the subject these days. We don't know who deserves a place on Question Time,' said one BBC researcher.
