geoff wrote in message ...

I used to have a customer who had been on all the courses, passed exams,
had a car full of boiler manuals and course notes.

He was totally useless


Sadly there are also a great number who, while not being useless, are
incompetent and unsafe. And I'm talking about people who have passed
exams.

The British public today has a very unrealistic view of exams and bits
of paper. The reality is that
a) of the official exams I took I'm sure I've forgotten the vast
majority of the material covered.
b) The pass percentage required on most exams is so low as to make
those who pass routinely not competent.
c) many idiots manage to pass exams: they might know the contents of
the course, but still be dangerous due to sheer stupidity - have seen
this many times.

If you want to see a monumental testament to the failure of exams to
produce safe practitioners, look at GPs. The standards are... not
good.


Regards, NT