Like many people, I have enjoyed seeing elite athletes at the Olympics push beyond the recent boundaries of human athletic achievement by creating new world records in many disciplines.
It seems, however, that improved achievement may not be all that it seems.
The current crop of Scotland's school students have taken their collective academic achievements beyond that of previous years. This is not deemed to be real improvement, but the result of "dumbing down", according to Tory education spokesman Liz Smith.
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