Grade inflation is a sign of the same problem though. The fact they had to introduce an A* because so many people were getting A is a sign that the exams have

Grade inflation is a sign of the same problem though. The fact they had to introduce an A* because so many people were getting A is a sign that the exams have broken down. The thing is when it's possible for tons of people to put in perfect papers you aren't really testing the depth of knowledge out there. You're measuring things like mistakes and compliance. You need to have more challenge in papers to really learn what people know or don't know. When it becomes almost pass/fail easy then more As doesn't really suggest people are getting smarter, just they are fitting the process of the exam better. I remember when 65% was the A mark. This was because they were hard. Nobody was expected to get a perfect score or near perfect score. The thing is people attack each leg of the stool in isolation: don't overstate grade inflation; exams are just as hard they test different things; anecdotal evidence from hiring managers of the lack of skills of those entering the workforce; comparative league tables of international school age people (where we're backsliding); and just the general interaction with people over years and seeing less and less knowledge in graduating classes (anecdotal)... sure you can attack each for different reasons. But at some point the weight of evidence becomes compelling to reasonable people. The education system and other things in society that contribute to kids' pre-adulthood learning (family, tv, etc.) are clearly showing a decline in their ability to deliver young adults with solid education and skills in large numbers, over the decades. Sure there are outliers and this board is full of them. But the complacency on this topic we all show by throwing out invalid arguments like "people have always complained about declining standards" is disturbing because once you pass a certain threshold it's damn hard to fix the problem.