A video (7:20) by Simon Webb, a historian.

One consequence of the feminisation of professional workforces is that standards inevitably decline. 50 years ago I was 12, and most teachers were men. These days most teachers are women, and they need the support of teaching assistants (almost invariably women) which teachers mysteriously didn’t need 50+ years ago.

One of the examples Simon Webb cites is from an 11-plus paper from 50 years ago, before the advent of affordable pocket calculators:

An aeroplane flies from Glasgow to London at an average of 220mphm and takes 1 hour and 51 minutes. What distance has it flown, in miles?

From the GCSE Mathematics paper in 2014, for 15/16 year old pupils, who were already allowed to bring calculators into the exams:

Work out one-quarter of 24 kilograms.

The bottom line? Male teachers educated pupils to a higher standard 50+ years ago than female teachers with the support of teaching assistants manage today.

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