The Government an-nounces regular tweakings to the new system to get it back on track. But the big difficulty is that AS has always been a partial solution to a concealed problem.

Since the 1980s, different governments have recognised that a sixth form course consisting of three A-levels was too restricted and specialised. They have been timorously trying to move towards a Baccalaureate approach, where virtually everyone would study five or six subjects to the age of 18.

Progress towards this Nirvana has been hampered by three obstacles. The vociferous Right continue to tout A-level as the “gold standard”. The universities have little interest in well-rounded undergraduates and benefit enormously because new recruits have already studied their subject in such depth.

And the Treasury is cool. No. 11 knows our university courses are the shortest and most efficient in the world. Less prepared undergraduates might need a four instead of a three-year course. That would cost more.

The Conservative version of AS was that it would be the same standard as A-level - to appease the Right - but only cover half the material. This version almost withered on the vine during the early 1990s. The universities never backed it. The whole idea made no sense for cumulative subjects such as maths, modern languages and sizeable chunks of science. If it is necessary to understand a particular concept, or develop a certain level of skill, in order to move to the next, the same “standard“cannot be reached if only half the curriculum is covered.

Now we are having another go. But Labour too has been disappointingly timid, cowed by the same powerful interest groups as the Tories.

AS-levels have been revived in a different form, but again only as a halfway house towards a complete reform of A-levels. That’s why they are so half-baked. This version is only temporary, yet meanwhile everyone has to take it seriously.

Interestingly, when a chorus of complaint arose last summer, the Government backed off and set up an inquiry remarkably quickly - no doubt because the loudest complainants were the private schools.

When your reputation and your fees depend on an unbroken record of As safely delivered, any change is bound to create a furore.

And Year 12 was always the non-exam year, in which drama, music, sport and activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award flourished. Now sixth-formers bound to the fiery wheel of endless modules have far less time for such pursuits.

Other sixth forms, though, show a different picture. Timetabling difficulties abound and standards are still uncertain. However, in some schools more students than ever are staying on, and many are from less-privileged backgrounds. Strangely, the vicissitudes of AS levels seem to make them look more do-able. Instead of being daunted by that sacred gold standard, more teenagers seem ready to take a punt on AS.

If it all goes wrong - well, it’s only a year, during which they don’t seem to have been quite as oppressed by the burden of study as their driven contemporaries in the private sector. But for many it will go right, and they’ll carry on to A-level.

We’re a contrary country. Could it be that, in our own way, we’re muddling through to something that could work?