Knowledge is no longer its own reward... at least in school

I've successfully restrained myself from updating this blog for a day or so; I thought I would wait until something particularly noteworthy came along, and indeed it did...

This fresh source of irritation came in the form of a BBC News article -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4443620.stm My initial reaction to this news was thus: 'What a fucking liberty!' Considering the average 'student' at the City Academy possesses all the charm of a warthog smothered in its own faeces, this initiative only serves to reward someone for being both a vile and ignorant shit. 'What!' I head you cry, 'Only the hardworking pupils will get the monetary rewards.' Oh dear, this exclamation betrays your ignorance of the GCSE system. The article states: 'any pupil getting five grade Cs or more receives a lump sum of £150' - what! Are we meant to be impressed by someone getting 5 Cs?!?!? I can assure you, after taking GCSEs myself this summer, that one could have an extensive lobotomy - removing much of the cerebrum - and attain at least least 5Cs. In addition to this 'achievement' being academically pathetic, it just encourages people to see exams in material terms, and not as an enjoyable personal challenge. In any case, just offering this incentive to pupils at one school is fundamentally unfair - the best I got was a pat on the back.

Ok, yes I am bitter! I got sod bloody all for my results, and to think I might have earned the GDP of a small African country for my efforts, had I gone to the City Academy, makes me irate.