Eliza I agree, I thought that the standard had dropped in the 70s speaking as a pupil but in comparison to my sons standard of education it wasn't bad at all. My older son's situation was different, he had a spectrum of Autism that hadn't been picked up on the cause was put down as a hearing 'problem' it wasn't until he found that he had a talent for art that he discovered something that he could be enthusiastic about. My other son went to a village school and the standard of reading and writing was atrocious. To top the lot on Sports Day the headmaster gave awards to all participants equally. This was mamby pambying at it's worst I thought. I wasn't the worlds best athelete by any means but in my time at school you either came 1st, 2nd, 3rd or last and we accepted it but probably excelling in something else that they might not. To this day it takes quite a lot to motivate my son.