David Blunkett, education and employment secretary says he hopes that new American-style scholastic aptitude tests (SATs) will give universities a better idea of a childs broad 'academic potential'.

He is unaware that the US university system is TOTALLY different, students waste years on dumb, borings course that extend their poor levels of general education before they start studying on their CHOSEN subjects.

The SAT tests are multi choice and appeal to people who like the kind of trickery you find in a MENSA test, they are NOT the best way of evaluating a childs performance. As they also reflect a ONE_OFF performance on the day result they can be badly skewed by nerves or illness!

Another dumb American idea brought to you from Blair, just like the Private Finance Initiative with its great successes like the millennium dome.