What would you do?
Discussing a staffing problem with a collegue this week and thought I'd turn it into a question for our readers.
Mrs X works for a University academic department and told me that relations between many academic members of staff there are dire. Something went wrong a while ago when the head of department made a deteriorating problem much worse.
Now most staff members go to work to do their teaching, dissertation supervision and office hours and then they go home. Consequently they don't need to interact with each other ...
Question Imagine you were appointed to be the head of this department how would you resolve this situation?
Duncan Williamson
AQA AS Level Case Study ... the competition
I see that our major competitor has published some information online relating to its case study resources. They look enticing and they are certainly a lot more refeshing than previous attempts. I might be wrong but I think they employed a new author this time.
However, don't worry that you haven't bought the best if you're one of the many who has bought OxBowBusiness's case study resources. Our materials not only cover all of the basic ground work but they go much further. We provide major insights into the feasibility of the S4U business, the reality behind some of the things that Billy and Michelle get up to ... thanks to Dan Cottrell for pointing out that I'd said Barry instead of Billy!
In other words, get your academic style resources that some have called dull and uninspiring (an independent reviewer's words not mine) or buy and use ours: inspirational, excellent and innovative (again, not our words!).
Just £25 will help to unleash our resources on you. Go to
this page to buy; and
this page to buy AND download our case study freebie.
Duncan Williamson
Tesco says Tomatoes
Rather interesting what's coming out of Tesco at the moment: the healthier tomato.
I just received this snippet from Business Review Online and thought you'd like to read it.
On the one hand it's good that Tesco and its growers are thinking this way: using particular aspects of one's diet to stave off health nasties. On the other hand the The Prostate Cancer Charity points out that it will take more than a tomato to solve such problems. Waht about people (like my brother for example) who doesn't like tomatoes? A well balanced way is what the Prostate Cancer Charity advocates.
Here's the report:
Tesco's announcement that it is trialing a new type of tomato that contains high levels of the cancer-fighting pigment lycopene marks the UK retailer's first entry into functional food development. With consumer interest in the health properties of fruit and vegetables growing, and many still adverse to GM foods, the naturally-bred tomato has generated a great deal of consumer interest.
A new tomato being trialed by Tesco - called Healthy Living Tomato on the Vine - is said to contain 36% more lycopene than the standard tomato variety, and up to twice the lycopene levels of normal vine tomatoes. Lycopene, which produces the red color in the fruit, has been found in some studies to reduce the risk of certain cancers, such as prostrate and breast cancer, as well as preventing heart disease.
With many people still wary about eating genetically modified foods, consumers could be reassured by the fact that the tomato was created using non-genetically modified methods. The tomato, which is being grown by British farmers in West Sussex, was originally developed in Holland by cross-breeding different types of tomatoes that had high levels of lycopene.
Tesco's had announced a sharp increase in demand for tomatoes, even before the new variety was launched. Sales of tomatoes in its stores grew 10% in 2005, amounting to around 70,000 tons of the fruit. The increase mirrors strong growth in demand of other fruit and vegetables across the UK, such as rhubarb and blueberries, as consumers respond to media reports into the health-giving benefits of fresh produce.
By developing foods with added health - or functional - benefits, Tesco can tap into the demand for healthier products and exploit the fact that consumers often feel they do not have the time to follow a healthy diet by eating lots of different food types. Functional foods can therefore be marketed as a shortcut to developing a healthier lifestyle.
Not everyone agrees that the new type of tomato is better for your health, however. The Prostate Cancer Charity stated it was not convinced the risk of developing prostate cancer is reduced by increasing lycopene intake, stating that a balanced diet containing five portions of fruit and vegetables a day would be a better way to improve overall health.
Despite this criticism, Tesco is confident the tomato will be a hit with consumers. It is currently being trialed in the south of England, and the retailer anticipates it will lead to a national rollout in the near future. The company also plans to develop other functional foods, anticipating a further increase in public interest in foods with added health benefits.
Whether the tomato will take off remains unclear, however, as consumers are notoriously fickle about what could possibly be labeled as 'gimmicky' foodstuffs, and they may not stay loyal to a particular brand of functional food, even if it sells well at the launch.Duncan Williamson
Coffee Houses
Let's start with a game. Which product that is part of a multi billion Pound business can be described as follows?
- a cup of water
- a splash of milk (optional)
- a spoonful of powder
- 30 seconds of labour
Did you say tea? Sorry, it's coffee. Put in terms like that, don't you wonder why you may be prepared to pay £3 or even more for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, Costa Coffee and the rest?
You may or may not drink that sludge that they serve in the modern day coffee house but no one can deny that they are now big business. Starbucks alone are reported to have total sales of $6.4 billion a year.
That excellent
Knowledge@Wharton newsletter has come up with an excellent article
The Coffee Wars Heat Up: New Strategies to Jolt the Caffeine Conscious Consumer that I want to summarise here because it looks at a few key marketing buzz words and some key marketing ideas.
I should say that the article is set firmly in the USA so there are companies mentioned in it that you probably don't know and therefore might not know of a British equivalent of. Don't worry as you will know the ones I'm going to mention here. Then again, I'm going to give you a chance to find their alternatives anyway!
The article concerns coffee houses and marketing strategies. They ask the question of whether Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts and MacDonalds are competitors now that they are all selling coffee to the likes of you and me.
Dunkin' Donuts... adding all sorts of new beverages over the last several years and ... introducing new food varieties and a coffee house ambience to some of its stores. ... says spokeswoman Susanne Norwitz: "We're not about fancy couches and wifi. We're about providing a good value and being convenient." ... Norwitz insists that the changes aren't aimed at luring customers from the Seattle chain. "We are doing what we have always done," she says. "We are ... speaking to the plainspoken, no nonsense Dunkin' patron."McDonald's likewise has trotted out a new line of upmarket coffee, co branded with Newman's Own food company. And even 7 Eleven has taken to serving cappuccinos and boasting of gourmet beans in its brews.Note: what you have just read about Dunkin Donuts, MacDonalds and 7 Eleven might not apply in the UK.
The first marketing point the article makes is that these companies
may be abandoning a niche they could continue to defend and profitably serve.
"In any mature market, there are always going to be price sensitive customers, quality sensitive ones and convenience sensitive ones," says marketing professor Peter Fader. "There will be some customers who love service and some who love the experience. It's just a question of retailers deciding which of those segments they want to go after. Everyone can do well if they cater to their segment."Meanwhile, Fader and several Wharton colleagues aren't convinced that Dunkin' Donuts and other coffee purveyors are angling for the same customers or even selling the same thing as Starbucks. Put differently, Starbucks' May Kulthol's statement about "the unique and authentic Starbucks experience" is more than just promotional blather. Along with its brews, her firm is peddling a place to hang out with cool music, comfortable couches and free wireless Internet connections, says marketing professor David Reibstein. The premium prices are, in effect, hidden rent for the freebies.As an aside, the only Starbucks I ever use is at Heathrow Airport and that's because they sell a cheese and Marmite toasted sandwich that I've seen nowhere else. I originally went there for the free wifi connection but didn't find one. There are no easy chairs, settees or anything luxurious about that Starbucks. Moreover, the only ambient background noise are the very loud announcements over the tannoy system entreating some very late passengers to hurry along or their baggage will be offloaded and so will they. I usually wonder how a passenger who has not boarded the aeroplane can be offloaded; but that's probably a technical thing.
As with all modern coffee houses I find the coffee there only mediocre.
Try this: draw three pictures of images that come to mind when they think of your favourite coffee house or cafe or doughnut shop or whatever it is that you use to "hang out with cool music".
Don't read any more until you've done that!
Now read on!
Wharton Marketing Professor David Reibstein asks his students to do that for Starbucks and this is what he reports:
Their first image is inevitably a cup of coffee. But the second and third almost never refer to other Starbucks' wares, like bakery products or newspapers. Instead, "the students always draw something about the furniture and the funky counter clerks with their piercings and tattoos, or maybe tables with people sitting by themselves with computers, or tables with people sitting together," he says.So why are the other places that sell coffee in a different niche to Starbucks? Well, at Dunkin' Donuts ... Many of its outlets don't offer much room to sit and savour your apple fritter or "frosted coffee roll." Some offer nothing more than a stand up counter. "How is it, then, that Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts compete?" Reibstein asks. "Sure, they both have a lot of stores and they sell coffee and pastries.
But they are not really competitors at all."
From a strict marketing point of view you might not agree that Starbucks and Dunkin are not competitors but from a pure consumer point of view they must be. Don't you think?
Starbucks owns the high end, while Dunkin' Donuts has traditionally emphasized convenience and McDonald's and other fast food outlets, price. "It's not clear that anyone goes to McDonald's for quality," Fader quips. "There it probably should be the price play."Read the next section of the article following the link above and
answer this question:
You need to know who and what Wal Mart and Target are so that you can derive UK equivalents and
then using your UK based examples, explain how the following is true:
Wal Mart v Target Other retailing sectors have shown that segmenting the market in this way makes sense. "Look at Wal Mart and Target," Fader suggests. "They seem to be in the same market, but you can easily shop in both for different reasons."
DifferentiationThe Wharton professors then warn Starbucks that by trying to do what everyone else is doing will lose them at least some of the reasons why people use them because they are changing what it is that they do that is different ... differentiation.
Adding more food to its menu, which [Starbucks] has begun doing, risks gumming up operations and lowering margins. "When I heard they were doing that, I thought they were getting desperate," Dreze says. "That's how you start losing your point of differentiation." Installing drive through windows, which Starbucks is also trying, likewise could endanger the brand. "If they say, 'Here, just take it with you,' it becomes more [like] just a cup of coffee," Reibstein suggests. "And as a cup of coffee, it's fine, but are you willing to pay that much more for it without the experience?"Did you appreciate that last point: if you drive through a Starbucks coffee house, would you still be prepared to pay their huge prices even though you no longer benefit from the background music and the comfy settee?
Finally, a warning.
Mature companies, or those strongly identified with particular customers, often stumble into trouble when they try to expand beyond their core clientele, says marketing professor Barbara Kahn. She points to ... a seller of conservatively styled clothing for professional women. The company's customers historically tended to be older women, Kahn points out. "But [they] wanted to bring in more than just older women, so they introduced younger styles. In trying to do that, they antagonized the older women and didn't get the younger market." As a reminder the article on which this post is based is
hereDuncan Williamson
Theft by Car Park
Grumpy old man or not, I have also written to the Town Clark of Abingdon asking him to explain whether Abingdon town council is guilty of theft. Here is the content of the letter I wrote to the Town Clerk; and I will keep you informed:
Car Park Machines and Giving ChangeIt has bothered me for years now that the payment machines in the town’s car parks have a notice that announces that they will not give any change.
Consequently, should I be unlucky enough, say, to arrive at a car park with a £1 coin but only intend to park my car there for the minimum period, I effectively pay £1 instead of the minimum fee that is now £0.60, in the Charter car park anyway.
Isn’t this in breach of the law of contract as you are failing to respect the rights of the other party to the contract? The consideration for the contract is set and I accept it by electing to park there and pay the fee; but by imposing a clause that I cannot control or influence in any way, the council ends up taking money from me that it doesn’t deserve.
I wonder, secondly, how much additional revenue this trick of yours raises in any given year. I imagine it is considerable.
Yours sincerely
Duncan Williamson
A letter to the Secretary of State for Education
Here is the text of a letter I have just sent to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, copied to my MP, Dr Evan Harris. I will keep you informed of any progress.
The Commercialisation of GCSE and A Level Examination BoardsThis is a matter that has been of great concern to me for a long time now and despite the attempts of others I see that little progress has been made on the subject. I now feel that the matter has got out of hand and I would like you to intervene to correct the problem.
You may be aware that GCSE and A Level Chief Examiners and their assistants, certainly in the areas of Business Studies, Economics and Accounting, are not only carrying out their duties as examiners but also writing text books in their chosen subjects and offering and presenting revision courses for financial gain.
I see nothing but potential problems stemming from this situation and would like to point out that I believe these examination boards may be unique in allowing for the potential conflicts of interest and unprofessionalism that may arise. I know that, for example, the professional accountancy bodies (ICAEW, ACCA and so on) do not allow their examiners to engage in such activities.
A chief examiner for business studies at the AQA Board of several years standing spearheaded the commercialisation of the board as far as his work was concerned. His books became the “must buy” for teachers and students alike since they felt that if the examiner had written the book, it must be the most relevant book there is. Well, of course that could be true; but I maintain that a chief examiner must not be allowed to abuse the privilege of his position by such blatant commercialisation for personal gain.
That same gentlemen, coincidentally or not, has recently joined the Edexcel Board as chief examiner for business studies and even a passing glance at the Edexcel web site will reveal that he is about to reap further reward from that board now.
Similarly, many examiners offer and run revision courses for candidates of the examinations for which they are the examiner. When I first heard that this was happening I did not believe it. I was assured that it was true and that it is true. I am aghast that examiners are not only allowed to interact directly in such a way with their candidates but that they are allowed to do so for personal gain. I find this extraordinary and I simply cannot subscribe to the view that it is good for examiners to deal directly with their clients in this way.
I recently discussed this matter with two colleagues from university and business in the United States and they were equally aghast. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they were speechless!
What I would like you to do is to outlaw such interaction between candidates and their examiner behind closed doors and for personal financial reward. Even if the examiner is cleaner than clean, I know of anecdotal evidence where an examiner is reported to have told candidates not to bother revising topic ‘x’ since it’s not in the exam. Examiners themselves need to be protected from such accusations let alone gain financially from them!
I would also like you to review the publications policy of our examination boards since I find it reprehensible that someone can be appointed as the guardian of standards and yet
ex officio become appointed the author of the book that will become
de facto the set text. Let the Board commission the writing of text books for their own board and its syllabus but let it be done behind the veil of the corporate façade and not at the hand of the examiner. Again, the accountancy boards are instructive in this respect: they recommend texts relevant to their examinations that others have written but do not write them themselves.
Given that there is an ongoing debate on A levels and their standards, I think that clearing up this matter is vital and it is a matter of urgency. I respectfully ask you to resolves these issues and I have copied this letter to my MP, Dr Evan Harris, since I would like to think that he is also sympathetic to this matter.
Yours sincerely
Duncan Williamson
Letter written and sent on 17th April 2006
How much our Quacks get paid
I watched the BBC early morning news on the telly this morning and learned that some of our GPs are earning as much as £250,000 a year and that over the last year or so the pay of all GPs has increased on average by around 25%. The average GP now earns £100,000 a year they said.
I then listened to most of a report on the same issue on BBC Radio 4, the Today programme; and listened to an introduction and then to half of the interview they had with the Secretary of State for Health (erm, what's her name?).
I thought that James Naughty's (that's pronounced nokhtie for some reason), the interviewer, stance was negative from the very beginning and I also thought that the Secretary of State was being a bit, how shall we say, blind to possible problems. Still, between them they provided a lot more information than the television equivalent and they provided a lot more balance.
Your mission, should you wish to accept it, is to look at this story and provide a balanced report for your colleagues on the real meaning behind today's story on GP pay.
Duncan Williamson
PS I used the word Quack in the title of this piece ... where does that come from and what is it a contraction of ie, what is the full version of the word quack in this context. No prizes for menetioning ducks. Absolutely none whatsoever!
S4U Case Study Analysis
So you're taking the AQA S4U case study exam this summer and you haven't bought any decent revision materials yet? Goo, then take a look at ours.
Just go to the
OxBowBusiness Shop where you will see the link to click.
For only £25 you get 19 separate files of high quality analysis, help and guidance and two quizzes ...SO FAR. The way we work is that we go through the case and prepare what we think you need for a basic review that will give you a really good head start on all of your friends.
Then we go back over the main points, difficult areas and add some more really useful tips and advice.
You really don't get such high quality innovative resources as these
Duncan Williamson
Worth a read
I've just seen the link to an article from the Economist that's well worth sharing. You need to subscribe to the Economist to read the article on line. The first two paragraphs are priceless in their apposite juxtaposition and verissimilitude, however, so I am showing them here: the rest I can't show for copyright reasons.
ON MARCH 27th, John Lewis, a retail group, decided to raise the normal retirement age for its pension scheme from 60 to 65. Those over 50 will not be affected, and the change will be phased in for those in their 40s. The decision, agreed by staff, will enable John Lewis to keep its defined-benefit scheme, in which pensions are based on years of service and final salary, open to new employees.
The following day, hundreds of thousands of council workers stopped work to protest against a similar reform to the local-government pension scheme. Schools, libraries and sports centres were closed. Public transport was brought to a standstill in some areas. The 11 unions organising the strike claimed that over a million employees stopped work, the most since the General Strike 80 years ago. The Local Government Association (LGA), representing employers, says that 400,000 were on strike in England.The Economist 30th March 2006
Duncan Williamson
Headers and footers in a Word file
Chris and I often exchange pleasantries over his, ahem, formatting abilities vis a vis his Word files.
The latest exchange related to putting a Header or Footer in a Word file ... don't know what a Header or Footer is? It's some words or a table or a graphic or a combination of all of them that you put at the top of every page in your document. Such as a logo, file information, disclaimers ... whatever you like.
Here's what I told Chris anyway:
If the file already has a header or footer then just double click on it and the header or footer will open ... then do what you like with it.
To put a header in the first page and then a separate one in all other pages:
File
Setup
Layout tab
Headers and footers ... Diferent first page
we DO use that option for the OxBow files
For ordinary files where you just need one heard per file and/or one footer per file
view
Headers and footers ... now you're in the header area ... edit away
To get to the footer area now, whilst you are in the header area just press the down arrow key and that should do it... edit away
To return to the document just click close on the dialogue bar that should hvae opened for you
On that dialogue bar you will see LOADS of options of what to do with your header and Footer ... save loads of time and I use them extensively.
There you are, all you need.Duncan Williamson
What a Palaver
I am suffering and need some sympathy and understanding!
On Sunday just gone my laptop suddenly stopped working and I had to reinstall Windows and reformat the hard disk. Now, I've got some file recovery software and I've got a lot of my data backed up but I have still lost a lot of work.
Please forgive me if my usual output flags a little as I try to recover in as many ways as I need to!
Duncan Williamon
Alphabetical Theories
Business Studies students will probably be familiar with the McGregor ‘X and Y’ theory.
Douglas McGregor in his book, "The Human Side of Enterprise" published in 1960 has examined theories on behaviour of individuals at work, and he has formulated two models which he calls Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X Assumptions
The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can.
• Because of their dislike for work, most people must be controlled and threatened before they will work hard enough.
• The average human prefers to be directed, dislikes responsibility, is unambiguous, and desires security above everything.
• These assumptions lie behind most organizational principles today, and give rise both to "tough" management with punishments and tight controls, and "soft" management which aims at harmony at work.
• Both these are "wrong" because man needs more than financial rewards at work, he also needs some deeper higher order motivation - the opportunity to fulfil himself.
• Theory X managers do not give their staff this opportunity so that the employees behave in the expected fashion.
Theory Y Assumptions
• The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest.
• Control and punishment are not the only ways to make people work, man will direct himself if he is committed to the aims of the organization.
• If a job is satisfying, then the result will be commitment to the organization.
• The average man learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept but to seek responsibility.
• Imagination, creativity, and ingenuity can be used to solve work problems by a large number of employees.
• Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average man are only partially utilized
Source: http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03_mcgregor.html
In recent years there has also been
Ouchi's Theory Z :
“In THEORY Z, Ouchi describes the art of Japanese management and shows how it can be adapted to American companies. He takes readers behind the scenes at several U.S. corporations making the Theory Z change and shows step-by-step how the transition works. Ouchi also examines the corporate philosophies that have become blueprints for Theory Z success, and looks at the evolving culture of “Z” people in society.
Professor Ouchi's new theory of management promises to change the way managers and employees alike think about their jobs, their companies, and their working lives. Theory Z, according to the best management minds in America, will soon take its rightful place in everyone's business vocabulary. “
Source: http://www.williamouchi.com/book_theoryz.html
Not content with X, Y and Z we have also had
Theory R Management which is a business application of
Theory R properties. Briefly this is the application and adaptation of
reiki to hands-on management whereby managers rotate and take the place of workers. In this way barriers between workers and management are broken down.
The latest theory to sweep Japanese management textbooks is ‘Theory B’. This is based on
Bizarro a comic book character. Bizarro is a copy of Superman – but represents evil. Wikipedia has this to say:
“In the Bizarro world, a cube-shaped planet known as "Htrae" (Earth spelled backward), society is ruled by the Bizarro Code, which states that it is a crime to do anything well or to make anything perfect or beautiful. In one episode, for example, a salesman is doing a brisk trade selling "Bizarro bonds. Guaranteed to lose money for you". Later in this episode, the mayor appoints Bizarro #1 to investigate a crime, "Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together". This is intended and taken as a great compliment.”
Theory B management strategy is a competitive strategy that is aimed at ridiculing any product or service that seems to be a close competitor to your own. By referring to this product as a ‘Bizarro product’ the original company is saying it is an inferior – evil even – product. This type of strategy has attracted much criticism in Japanese management circles in particular where successful
kaizen strategies have now been replaced by workers deliberately deskilling and hence a dumbing down of the product.
This, it is argued, is what has happened to the UK Education system.
The concept of Bizarro first appeared in Chinese writings with work about the yin-yang (equal/opposite) effect. Most often it applied to families where twins were born – the twins did not have to be identical for the Bizarro effect to be seen. One twin would be seen as responsible, honest and upright and the other would be the mirror opposite. It was believed that this negative effect could only be overcome by long periods of meditation and intense concentration on bowel control.
Japanese comic book writers picked up on this in the early 20th century and this was then seized on by the American magazine market with "Tales of the Bizarro World" became a recurring segment in
Adventure Comics from 1961 to 1962.
Theory B therefore suggests that a company can be effective despite or perhaps because of, being run by evil twins where one of them is the antithesis of the other and the actions of the Evil One are to rubbish competitors at each and every opportunity. Psychologists believe that this is because the evil twin has a fear of being replaced by the ‘similar businesses’ and thus lashes out, sometimes overtly and sometimes in a deceptive way.
In the UK Theory B is taken to refer to
alternative behaviour in business and economics often by new businesses operating on the fringe. Perversely this seems to have lead to more activity by companies managed by ‘Bizarro Twins’.
Chris Sivewright
Exams (some) cancelled!
The government has recently issued a new coursework
guide for teachers. According to the guide, teachers who allow coursework cheats to escape detection could be charged with misconduct. The onus has now been placed on teachers to catch cheats rather than the previous emphasis on pupils not to cheat.
This subtle shift therefore places the teacher at greater risk than the pupil. A pupil who cheats doesn’t lose his/her job. A teacher might. Therefore teachers must:
1. Familiarise themselves with sites which offer writing services so that they can more easily spot plagiarised work.
2. Ensuring they are familiar with each candidate's work and writing style will help them identify work which could have been written by somebody else.
3. Check for "inconsistencies" such as irregular font or margin size, and to compare carefully the standard of supervised and unsupervised work.
4. Where teachers have suspicions, they should ask the candidate oral questions or get them to acknowledge their sources, before considering reporting their concerns to the exam board.
When Ruth Kelly was interviewed by the
Guardian newspaper last Tuesday, she made the surprising admission that exams in certain subjects were going to be phased out. As part of a prepared speech to headteachers at a symposium arranged to discuss plagiarism she said:
“ For several years now teachers have expressed their concern over the proliferation of ‘cheat’ sites, for want of a better word, on the internet. With that in mind, the government set up an enquiry under Chris Woodhead, former Chief Inspector of Schools to examine the case for abolishing examinations altogether. The committee has now reported back and, in certain subjects such as Media Studies, Sociology, Classic Civilisation and History of Art we are now removing assessment by examination completely. Neither will the work be assessed by coursework, by 2008 we expect to have a system in place whereby pupils studying those subjects have to demonstrate continuous real-life experience and by so doing will be awarded the appropriate grade. Taking Media Studies as an example, candidates will have to watch 15 hours of television every week. They will be required to ‘clock in’ via an online registration system at the start of an evening’s viewing and clock out at the end. In the case of History of Art, candidates will have to visit 35 museums a year. They will collect their admission ticket and, having had the ticket authenticated by their teacher, will submit the ticket and/or receipt to the examination board. Grades will be awarded on the basis of the diversity of museums visited.
Certain subjects will still be assessed by examination. These include Mathematics, the core Sciences, Economics and English Literature, though in the latter case we are running a pilot scheme in parallel with the A level intake, whereby candidates have to speak a certain amount of words every single day and read at least one poem out loud. In this way their use and appreciation of English Literature will be measured and thereby assessed.
By adopting these forward-thinking policies we will be able to further streamline the Education budgets and thus maximise the return the British taxpayer receives for their own hard work. This in time will lead to a more productive economy and a boost to the overall standard of living.”
Critics have been quick to condemn this strategy. The
Campaign For Real Education called the Kelly scheme a ‘monstrous distortion of education’s principles – the bedrock on which this nation was founded’ and urged Ruth Kelly to reconsider her proposals. ‘Either all exams are scrapped or none at all – to do otherwise would be discriminatory and would inevitably label the subjects left – such as Mathematics and the Sciences – as being ‘soft’ or ‘too easy’ when compared to the severe regime to be followed by Media Studies candidates’.
David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives also condemned the scheme as ‘just another knee-jerk reaction to the overall rise in A level standards. This is an anal government in a digital age.’
According to
Reuters examinations were scrapped completely in 20 American States last year, including Texas. This led to an overall increase in IQ levels of an average of 10 points, bringing the American IQ up to an average of 65, the highest for 7 years.
It is expected that GPs will follow the scrapping of examinations too and cancel all screening services currently on offer to the public. There will be no more awkward instances of ‘please cough – I want to test your reflexes’ or even invasive techniques used to test for prostate disease. Instead patients will be urged to write down their feeling as by the release of emotional tension, a positive chi will be put in motion and, when guided along meridian lines, will result in the disappearance of disease.
As with the scrapping of examination, this too will save the government – and ultimately us – money which will mean there is every likelihood of tax cuts by 2008.
Chris Sivewright
