“Why should we care more about level of difficulty than we do about whether syllabuses are interesting; or provide children with knowledge that will enrich them for the rest of their lives; or enable them to apply what they learn outside the classroom; or help them to become informed, engaged citizens; or any number of other goods education can provide? At this time of year we become so focused on the question difficulty that we seem to think that the real purpose of education is to erect a kind of intellectual obstacle course in order to separate the chaff from the wheat.”
Article in The Times (18 August) available only behind pay wall