Has Mount Everest Shrunk?

The percentage of students achieving an A grade at A Level has increased for 27 years in a row, so A Levels must be getting easier.

Professor Gordon Stobart of the University of London responds with an intriguing analogy.  In 1953 only two people got to the top of Mount Everest (and we know them well) yet today lots of people climb Mount Everest.  There was a day in 1996 when 39 people stood together on the summit.  So should we conclude that Mount Everest has shrunk?  The evidence is actually that the mountain is now 26 ft higher than it was in 1953.

So maybe we should not be asking whether Mount Everest has got smaller but rather what has happened to mountaineering in the last 50 years.  Modern climbers have better maps, guides, training and equipment.  Similarly, it could be the case that examination results have improved not because the standard of the qualifications has been reduced but rather because of what has happened to education (better teaching, better equipment, and so on).

This comes from an excellent debate hosted by Cambridge Assessment, which is archived at:
http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/ca/Viewpoints/Viewpoint?id=132622