The story continues …

Which story exactly? The one about the increase in the number of university graduates that the western world lusts after, writes Stuart Middleton.

Increasingly, we are becoming very specific about the skills and knowledge students need if they are to be admitted into the academy. In New Zealand in the olden days, (that is, prior to the 1990s), there were no curriculum statements for senior secondary schooling. Teachers taught to the examination syllabi for university entrance in the Year 11 and the university bursary examinations in Year 12. Of course, this did not mean there was necessarily a connection between what was taught and what was required in university study. I was involved closely in English as a school subject back then and...