British lawmakers fare lower on math and English exams than 10-year-olds

When given English and Math exams, British MPs and peers performed worse on average than 10-year-olds. According to the Guardian, MPs, including Commons education select committee chair Robin Walker, took the test at a London event that was overseen by 11-year-olds.

More Than A Score, a campaign that promotes the abolition of pointless tests, organised the event.

According to the survey, only 50% of the cross-party group of parliamentarians met the expected standard in spelling, punctuation, and language, and only 44% met the expected quality in math.

In the SATs tests for math, reading, and writing this year, 59% of children aged 10 and 11 across the UK achieved the required benchmark, showing that the MPs performed much worse than the 10-year-olds.

Even if the campaign may not have been able to persuade MPs to completely abolish the examinations, it did force them to realise the strain kids feel. Robin Walker acknowledged the requirement for exam reform for students in grades 10 to 11.

The Guardian quoted him as saying, ‘We’re not training young people to pass examinations. We should want to give them a love of learning. It was quite a rigorous test, and we need to realise what will genuinely be beneficial for the future.’