Jo Johnson takes aim at those who ‘coast within the 2.1 band’

This morning Jo Johnson gave a speech in which he outlined his recommendations for the way in which universities grade students. The new science and universities minister suggested that they rethink the current honours system and instead have a ‘dual running’ with regards degree classifications and grade point averages.

If his idea does become a reality and there is less of a focus on degree classifications, Mr S suspects it will be music to the ears of Jo’s siblings, Boris and Rachel. Jo was the only one of the three to achieve a first class degree from Oxford, an achievement which was reportedly a cause of envy for Boris, who along with his sister Rachel, only managed to achieve a 2.1 at the university:

‘Their sister Rachel Johnson rang Boris when the results came out, and asked him: ‘Have you heard the bad news about Jo? He got a first.’

Mr S was particularly intrigued by one line in Jo’s speech, where he said he wanted to make it ‘less easy to coast within the 2.1