Grade A Babes

“ELITE universities will struggle to identify who really is the brightest,” says the Times. Half of all A-levels taken by girls this year resulted in an A or B grade.

This is great news, not least of all for the newspapers that are able to illustrate a routine story about how more and more students are passing their exams with better than ever grades with pictures of teenage girls.

The Times leads the way with its front page given over to five shots of people celebrating their marvellous results.

There’s Nicole Atack. She’s aged 18. She scored 10 A grades at A level. And, best of all, she is blonde. Nicole – or is it Nikki? – proves that women really can have it all.

And there’s “THE MODEL STUDENT” Lily Cole. Lily is also aged 18. She’s scored straight As in English, politics and something called philosophy and ethics. She’s got ginger hair. But don’t feel too bad for her, because Lily is a model and on her way to study at King’s College Cambridge. (Shots of Lily in her mortar board to follow.)

The Telegraph doesn’t even bother naming names. Although its front-page picture does recognise that boys took exams, the source of the lad’s joy may have more to do with his being in the company of a photogenic blonde than his B grade in leisure and recreation studies.

Inside the Times, there are shots of what might be the same duo as that featured on the Telegraph’s cover. The boy holds up a piece of paper on which we assume his results are written. Round his neck hangs the blonde.

He looks like he’s checking the results. But he might just as easily be trying to hand his letter to another unseen figure so he can get to grips with his acolyte.

Result.

Posted: 18th, August 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink