> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://onemanandhisblog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# physics is hard, and that's a good thing
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2006/08/physics_is_hard/
- Published: 2006-08-29T17:20:01.000Z
- Updated: 2015-04-08T09:27:06.000Z
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: academia, business, education, UK

While I was away in France, the annual fracas over improved A level results broke out. Now, I know where I stand on this; I know people who work and teach in Higher Education and they’re seeing a decline in the educational quality of freshers, not an improvement.

Here’s an article by Boris Johnson on the subject that I heartily agree with called [Physics at A Level](http://www.boris-johnson.com/archives/2006/08/%5Fcivilisation%5Fis%5Fbuilt%5Fon%5Fphys.php?ref=onemanandhisblog.com):

> We must stop this flight from the crunchy subjects, not just because it is slowly denuding the country of scientists – it is hardly surprising that 30 per cent of university Physics departments have closed in the past eight years, when the number of Physics candidates at A-level has slumped from 46,606 in 1985 to 28,119 in 2005.
> 
> We must stop this disaster because we are cutting the roots of our civilisation: when I think what has happened to Latin and Greek and modern languages in the maintained sector, I alternate between rage and black depression.

His description of the difficulty of understanding a Physics class reminds me all too clearly of my time studying Physics at [Imperial College](http://www.imperial.ac.uk/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com). However. the principal point is that [Cambridge](http://www.cam.ac.uk/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) is saying that potential students must have at least two A levels in “crunchy” (ie rigorous) subjects to be considered for entry. It’s the first. Others will follow, and then employers will start to take the same approach. We’ll soon see a two tier systems of A levels, with some considered serious and others, less so. It’s much the same as already exists with degrees. People know that a 2:1 from Oxbridge or the bigger London colleges is superior to the same degree from a lesser university, even if there’s nothing in the degree certificate to prove that. In fact, I’ve known editors who would point blank refuse to employ anyone with a media studies degree because they come in with a head full of irrelevant theory, a lack of intellectual rigour and a lack of any practical experience.

The reality is that you can pack as many people as possible into the grade A category, but both academia and business need a way to differentiate the very good from the good or average, and they’ll find it if the A level fails to offer it.