Points mean prizes – but for whom?

Posted by Barbara on January 18, 2026 in Blog, children, Living today, Rants | 2 comments

Dame V has thrown down the gauntlet and set the hares running.  How’s that for a mixed metaphor?  In her last blog she highlighted the problems around ‘escalation’ and I just came across a prime example of how best is not enough.

I’m talking about ‘points’, but in a specific context that I only learned about the other day. There I was, post exercise class at the gym, nattering happily to X who has a 14-year-old daughter.  X was explaining that her daughter had chosen her GCSE subjects, but the conversation amongst her peers was now all about ‘points’.  Apparently it is no longer enough to get 9 or 10 GCSEs at the top grade. Oh no. In anticipation of the next steps, ie A levels and university entrance, this generation of youngsters have to demonstrate a noteworthy accumulation of ‘points’.

By now all I could see and hear was Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate getting advice from Mr Braddock: ‘I want to say one word to you. Just one word….Plastics’.  Well forget plastics, it’s now all about points.  It seems that these are no longer just part of an internal reward system with the school. Somehow they now have become an intrinsic part of the persona and skillset a teenager needs to project as s/he moves on from secondary education.

I learned that points in this case are linked to extracurricular activities and achievements.  X referred casually to her daughter’s LAMDA activities as an example of – dare I say it- point scoring.  Well good for her, but it begs so many questions; how are these points recorded?  How to demonstrate or prove the number and range of points you have acquired? And more fundamentally, why?  We are constantly being told that this young generation is more anxious and worried than those that came before, so is the answer to add yet more expectations and goals to their load?  And what if they spend loads of time earning points only to discover their post uni dream job is now being handled by an AI clone?

Then there is the question of privilege; if you are from a low-income family you are unlikely to benefit from expensive extra classes that will tool you up with the required points for the next stage of your life.  So as ever this will increase the gap between the haves and the have nots. 

So if that is what points are all about it really does feel like gaming the system even more. Now I am all for teaching young people that they are part of a wider community and that doing some sort of voluntary activity is a GOOD THING.  Schools often have activities along these lines. My daughter called it granny bashing when she was in the sixth form, visiting elderly people.  But why should we reward what might well be considered ‘normal behaviour’?  Equally, is there no time left for just hanging out somewhere with your mates?  I seem to remember that was a large component of my teenage years.

So let’s take all of this in the spirit of R4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue; yes, Points mean Prizes, but does it really make any difference – and who benefits?