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Of course the SQE will not "require the ability to critique the law, think about it, evaluate it or apply any higher order thinking skills."

Nor should it.

You might as well require that your dentist must learn to critique tooth decay, think about it, evaluate it and apply higher order thinking skills to it.

A law degree may usefully teach people all sorts of thinking and analytical skills.

But clients want a lawyer who is competent to get them their divorce, draft their will, wind up an estate or whatever. Critiquing the law just does not enter into it and it would be quite wrong to make that a condition of being licensed to practise law.

Meanwhile the LPC and GDL do not require any of these higher order skills either. So the idea that the SQE involves lowering of standards is simply false. It raises standards by having an objective, fair, centrally set exam that cannot be rigged by teaching institutions that will profit from a high pass rate.

This is a long overdue attempt to get legal education focused on knowledge and competence, and away from over-priced courses with very high pass rates.