I dislike the amount of people claiming such a discussion is 'pointless', 'not a discussion' or 'extremely insensitive'.
It is a discussion that needs to be had, we need to ask questions about our education system, and the work ethic/circumstances of individuals. So no it isn't a pointless discussion, lots of interesting ideas have came up on this thread.
Personally, I think some people use certain conditions as an excuse for not going above & beyond. I am not a fan of anecdotes but I find the fact stephen (the person who had cancer yet smashed his A-levels amongst other things) is a strong example of why we should, as a society, have an attitude where we push individuals to go above and beyond (unless the medical condition is critical whereby there's no point putting time into their education). Too often at my poorly performing state schools were students with conditions/low motivation been capped at the C/D grade.
Scrap the foundation tier, its a load of ****. It restricts people from exceeding a C, which is not the culture we should live in. There should not be caps to academic potential.
Reform teachers attitudes to students, too often we have teachers talking down to students as if they are incapable/unintelligent, I was predicted CCD for my AS-levels but got AAAA, another anecdote but it goes to show grade capping isn't productive at all. I also hate the teacher hierarchy whereby the teachers determine the fate of students, rather than the students themselves. This is OUR education not our teachers.
I think personally in summary the main reasons for bad grades are:
- General intelligence
- Bad teachers (at a-level this is more evident if a student isn't self-motivated)
- Poor attitude to work ''I'll get it done later'' ''Oh but if I get 30 ums in this module then I can pass'' can you not?
- Foundation tier
- Lack of motivation
- Certain mental/physical conditions