She's quite correct in parts.

GCSEs and A-levels don't test the candidate's grasp of the subject but rather his ability to pass the exam.

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It's got nothing to do with being able to get hold of marking schemes and other information, it's about questions being asked that require a specific answer. If the question makers could actually ask good questions and markers could pick the good from the bad, a marking scheme wouldn't be needed in the first place.

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This is niching new. When I was doing O levels, my English Literature teacher took me to one sidecand told me that I was not giving the "right" answers. The answers I was giving to questions were good, and more advanced than O level because I was thinking. However, they were not the answers the markers would be looking for, and she warned me that I would fail O level (also told me that I could pass A level with my work). She told me it was a game and the rules ofnthe game were that if I get a certain question, the answer would be about a specific character or situation in the text.

She told me to get some study notes and use those to point me in the right direction. I passed O level English Literature, but I didn't get a particularly good grace (C). I didn't bother with The A level - it wasn't the subject for me- I wanted to to A level English Language, but couldn't find a course.

The problem with exams at that level are the objectives of the course - it's to set foundations and instil discipline, rather than encourage academic enquiry. That starts at degree level and beyond.

But the problem starts with targets. It gets students and teachers thinking about what is wanted rather than expressing some understanding of the subject. If you get to university without understanding the subject then you have to make up for that lack of knowledge in the first year.

And the problem is, by the time most students get to degree level, any glimmer of academic enquiry has been killed off.

And why so few entrepreneurs have degrees.

Exactly right.

The first year of a lot of degree courses just brings everybody up to a (slightly above) A-level standard. With most of the final year of engineering courses taken up with project work and finals, most of the actual degree-level education is confined to the second year.

Not just that but they are extending the course to 4 years because the quality of intake has deteriorated over the years.