GCSEs not fit for purpose
GCSEs（General Certificate of Secondary Education，普通中等教育证书）encourage "teaching to the test" and may be past their sell-by date, according to Britain's leading business organization. The Confederation of British Industry（CBI） warns that the qualification is stopping teachers delivering an "inspirational classroom experience" and should be replaced.
John Cridland, the CBI director general, said industry faced a shortage of key skills, particularly in science and maths. The CBI（英国工业联合会）, which represents more than 240,000 companies, is also concerned about the 40% of young people who fail to achieve the benchmark of five good GCSE passes including English and maths. The percentage of pupils who reach this standard is the main measure of school success.
Speaking at the launch of a CBI inquiry into education, Cridland argued that abandoning GCSEs could help deliver a full education. "There's something about this GCSE limitation which produces a form of learning ------ teaching for the test.’’
"It frustrates teachers because it stops them delivering that inspirational classroom experience."
The CBI head suggested that raising the school leaving age to 18 – a change that comes into effect in 2015 – is an opportunity to reform the system. "It seems to me that we've raised the participation age to 18 and we're left with an education system that focuses on 16," said Cridland. More than 600,000 children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to take GCSEs this summer.
Many other countries do without a public exam at 16. Finland, the highest performing school system in Europe, has just one public exam, at 18, though children are regularly tested at younger ages.
小题1:What does the author intend to tell us in paragragh1？
A．“Teaching to the test” should be encouraged.
B．We should stop teachers delivering “inspirational experience”.
C．The current qualification is out of date and should be replaced.
D．The Confederation of British Industry should be replaced.小题2:What’s the main idea of the passage？
A．The British GCSEs are no longer practical and should be reformed.
B．In the GCSEs system , teachers don’t have freedom.
C．Five good GCSEs is hard to achieve.
D．The British Education Department will reform education system.小题3:The meaning of the underlined word “benchmark” in paragraph 2 may be ______.
A．success
B．target
C．standard
D．excellent grades小题4:Where can we find this article?
A．TV series
B．radio news
C．newspaper education section
D．government report
