While mistakes like this are going to happen on occasion no matter what the circumstances, what little I know about their system I like and is akin to what I have been saying we need to do in undergraduate engineering and science education here -- namely put an external assessment component that the schools have no control over (but input into is fine). In engineering, I would recommend three exams that students have to take. An entrance exam that could be taken at the high school level the same way that SAT and AP exams are done. They could also be taken later when a person decides to declare an engineering or science major. It would focus on math and reasoning skills that a person should be expected to possess prior to starting such a program. Next would be a major-specific midpoint exam that would cover specific topic that assesses whether students have achieved a certain level of proficiency/mastery before being allowed to take upper-division majors courses. The final exam would be an exit exam that would be required to be passed in order to receive an engineering/science undergraduate degree. Either the College Board or an organization like ABET could oversee the exams. This would help accomplish a few things. It would help standardize the core technical curriculum (plenty of room can be left for programs to specialize and differentiate themselves) so that people hiring a student at least has some idea of the basic academic level they have reached (I would love for the exams, at least in some majors, to include a practical, hands-on component, but that is a lot more problematic logistically). It would also make it easier for students to transfer from one school to another at the midpoint if schools were comfortable guaranteeing admission to students that had passed a given level of exam. Most importantly, it would help curb the grade inflation and weakening of the curriculum in response to the never-ending decline in level of preparation that we see, and also the pressure from universities to push students along in order to keep enrollment numbers up (i.e., money flowing in). If employers could see the fraction of students that a particular program has that pass the exit exam on the first attempt, it would be reflected in their willingness to interview and hire at that school. Even more teeth could be put into it by setting a threshold below which ABET puts a program and probation and, if not corrected, they lose their ABET accreditation. For any of this to work, the assessment has to be external to the school.
It makes sense. I've never understood the difference between an iPhone and a sock.
Did you actually think his shoe was the phone? It was actually a HID device connected to his sock via Bluetooth.
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