Dumbing down in Britain’s schools and universities continues apace under this Labour Government, with the news that Cambridge University could stop telling students how their exam results compare with those of their peers.
The university will review whether to abandon “tripos rankings”, which were introduced in 1748 and tell students how their end-of-year marks tally up against their cohort’s.
It comes after Cambridge discontinued the tradition of displaying these rankings on boards outside the Senate House building in 2021.
Under the planned shake-up, which could be implemented as soon as September, students will still be allowed to request their ranking privately and top performers will still be awarded prizes for academic achievement.
Why the change? Apparently, a university “task force” has decided that pitting students against each other contributes to a “culture of overwork”, which harms their well-being.
Forgive me, but isn’t “overwork” precisely what is needed to gain a place and thrive at the country’s elite academic establishments?
Other measures aimed at fostering a “healthy work-life balance” across campus include abolishing lectures on weekends and limiting all teaching to take place between 8am and 8pm.
That might suit lecturers, but does any of this virtue-signalling wokery really benefit students?
If studying at Cambridge doesn’t require what university bods have described as “self-imposed competitive pressure”, what is the point of it? These world-renowned institutions are supposed to be equipping young adults for the competitive world of work. Instead, they seem to be using mental health as a justification for lowering standards.
It is already much easier to get a first-class degree at Cambridge than it was 30 years ago. In the 1990s, only around 15 per cent of graduates achieved top marks in their degrees – now it’s around 30-35 per cent. Cambridge is far from alone: the number of firsts awarded by English universities in 2010-2011 was 15.4 per cent, jumping to nearly 33 per cent in 2021-22.
But as any Cambridge mathematics professor will surely attest, grade inflation plus scrapped rankings equals lower attainment.
