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Record numbers of young people have achieved top grades in their A-levels, and Scotland reported similar success in the Highers earlier last month. Critics say this is evidence of “dumbing down”. Should we be pleased for the young people and the fact that schools are apparently more successful at meeting targets?

My son achieved 11 GCSE passes at grade A or A* in 2007. Highest achiever in his school. He has just received his results for A-levels in mathematics, physics and music: B, C, C. He worked hard throughout his studies so I think this evidence contradicts the “dumbing down” theory.
Ian Chatterton, Glossop, Derbyshire

If grade boundaries were recalibrated to keep the total number at each grade roughly constant, the system would once again work for the universities. The schools would moan that they no longer have an absolute standard against which they could be judged – but this is exactly what their alumni will face in real life.
Justin Greenhalgh, Wantage, Oxfordshire

Whether the exams have been dumbed down is almost irrelevant. If too many people are achieving the top grade it makes it impossible to distinguish between them.
Gareth Jones, Didcot, Oxfordshire

A-levels were supposedly getting easier when I did them yet I thought they were very hard. Maybe it’s more a case that students are now better equipped.
Ian Jordan, Loughborough, Leicestershire

Exams that don’t differentiate have no worth to candidates, universities or employers. This factor, political meddling and the impossibility of securing adequate funding will result in the top universities leaving the state sector in the next 10 years.
Richard Haydock, Aberdeen

It can only happen in the UK – instead of giving praise and encouragement for the hard work and success of our young people we criticise them for having it too easy. Perhaps those people who say standards have been dumbed down should take the exams themselves.
Eric Madraszek, Prestwood, Bucks

Since the examination boards became commercial enterprises it has been in their interest to have better pass rates than their competitors. Very few schools will chose a board that sets more difficult exams.
Grant Tuff, Compton, Berkshire

Does the fact that Usain Bolt has met his target with such apparent ease mean that the race has been dumbed down? Targets move as skills improve. We should be happy that it is time to move the target.
Jim Hogg, Sheffield

Whereas getting an A used to be a real achievement, it seems nowadays the A bracket has widened, which means more students get them. This only blurs the real achievement boundaries.
Ignacio Pont Lezica, London

Our country is in a mess because of the failures of so many highly paid personnel not qualified in the professions they manage so I don’t think we should be overly criticial.
Graham Farquhar, New Deer, Aberdeen

Dummin down i here u say? Cors knot. Kids r ded elaqent n ded polyte. Gud luk 2 em i say, an luk aftas me penshun cos i’v werkt ded ard 4 it!
Helen Doyle, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire

Anyone who has any lingering doubts whether A-levels have been dumbed down or not should compare a recent maths or physics paper with one from, say, the 1970s.
Bob Garner, Belper, Derbyshire

As a parent of one of those awarded more than one A grade this year, I know that comparisons with my A grades 28 years ago are meaningless and unhelpful. The only relevant comparison in a global economy is not with historical local examination standards but with current international examination standards.
Greg Davidson, Warrington

We don’t need A star grades, we just need to raise the bar for the A grade and all other grades will follow from there. Another symptom of the ‘everyone’s a winner’ approach in education today not doing students any favours when they get into the real world.
Geoff Donkin, Beverley, East Yorkshire

The problem for universities and employers is trying to differentiate between candidates who all have a full set of A grades. Perhaps the politicians could introduce a tie-breaker subject such as ‘creative expense claiming’.
Jeremy Pullin, Wotton-under-Edge, Glos

Young people are getting smarter all the time and I put this down to the huge increase in the number of ways they are able to learn these days.
Julian Harrison, Bagshot, Surrey

As a parent whose daughter has just excelled in her Scottish highers, I take my hat off to her and all other students who have worked exceedingly hard and deserve their success.
Ian Bishop, Cults, Aberdeen

I heard that the university I attended is now going to introduce its own entrance exams. It seems to me that the whole concept of the standardised exam system is undermined if such exams are deemed necessary.
Yoshi Hori, Peterborough

I feel very strongly that our young people are being misled and their expectations raised too high. They deserve an honest education that stretches them to their limits and one that lets them know when they have reached them.
Jeffrey Flather, Warwick

It seems like education is being run like a corporate business where the shareholders constantly demand higher returns as evidence of success. But are the books being fiddled?
Graham Bates, Bishops Waltham, Hants

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