Just came across the Guardian’s Mortarboard’s A-level results live blog. “Join us for a day of trends, tears and triumphs in our special results day blog”. As well as the expected stories around standards there was this gem:
1.30pm: The prize for most self-assured student 2009 goes to… Ibrahim Khan, 18, who had the audacity to send us his own press release letting us know about his 8 A-levels.
The student from Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough got 6 As in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, History, Critical Thinking, and Urdu, and Bs in Arabic and Religious Studies. The teenager has big plans for his forthcoming gap year, aiming to “get the first book of his WW3 trilogy published, do investigative journalism across the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, learn three languages, and start a business,” he informs us.
“The quality of A levels has gone down, so I decided to stand out with the quantity,” he said. “Being from Middlesbrough, of Pakistani origin, and a Muslim, statistically three of the worst performing groups in education, I think my success shows that if you keep your aspirations high, you can achieve anything, whatever your background,” he added.
We cannot give out Khan’s email address in full, but suffice to say it includes the phrase “the best”. And who are we to disagree.
I love that idea of quantity making up for a perceived lack in quality. Read the rest here.
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