Education, Education, Education!

There have been considerable comment that British educational standards have been
falling despite the rise in record results for school exams. There has been the
argument that educational standards were deliberately compromised so as to allow
an increase in the number of university students. This was considered vital in
a knowledge economy.
Is education important? I remember reading a study about the longevity of New York
men and it appeared that ones with a college education lived longer, since they
were more likely to give alcohol and drugs a miss. So at a basic level education
is important.
In the years since 1997 the think-tank Civitas notes that the number of British
A-level passes have changed from 87 pct to 97 pct. The percentage of A grades
have changed from 16 pct to 24 pct. Research in this area has been carried out
by Dr Robert Coe of Durham University.

Are exams too difficult or too easy these days? Are the children doing too few or too many exams?