School subject choices poor

my son is doing a levels this year and I agree with your comments alaneroberts about the stupid system of exams followed by loads more exams. Ive let him choose whatever he wants to do and hope that he will find his subjects interesting. It is true that some parents like Pepa can be interfering with their kids too much although I will say that I wasnt happy when my boy was thinking of doing media studies, thank god he changed his mind. I know its not all about making money but a subject like that seems a bit of a waste.

bi curious f,

Only just noticed your particular post. Must admit, I'm somewhat impressed. I wouldn't say that I am a 'hippy', but I have - I've gotta admit! - hugged trees in the past . . . .lol

good luck!

Pepa,

I'm not sure how to interpret your last post. Are you suggesting that 'the powers that be' will see fit to edit my posts? Are you seriously suggesting that there is anything offensive about them worthy of editing/removal? If you are Pepa, then of course your comment is purely ironic - I suggested that parents like yourself enjoy too much 'control'. If I'm right in my interpretation, then your view that having people's posts 'edited' is a 'blessing' is, actually, a little scary - 1984 and all that!

I hope your daughter enjoys her choice of subjects. I would ask you to consider that many schools now are extremely adept at getting kids to pass exams, and yet are now very poor at teaching the subject. It is not the teachers fault - they are victims of a system of 'targets' and 'league tables', together with performance related pay. So, if you find that your daughter becomes somewhat disillusioned with her GCSE experience, then I would suggest that this is hardly surprising.

Should she go on to A levels, then consider this. Having completed GCSE's in the summer, she will start her AS levels in September, will be doing exams in January, followed probably by some mock exams in March/April, followed by more exams in May. She will then start her A2 courses after exam leave finishes, to do yet more exams the following January (probably some resit exams from the Summer plus new exams), followed probably by mocks in April, followed by more exams in May and June (resits plus new exams). Oh, she may have to do some coursework as well as all this.

In my opinion your main role as a parent should be to encourage your daughter to keep it all in perspective and actually maintain a healthy cynicism about the system whilst encouraging her to get as much out of it as much as possible.

Touchay alaneroberts, good communicating with you but bear in mind that one of the blessings of this particular site is that posts can be and are sometimes, edited.

Hey Pepa,

Don't worry about it! There are lots of parents who think they know what's best for their children and in many cases they do. It's just that your original posting suggested that you had preconceived views about subjects and that you yourself are a victim of the heavy emphasis on 'business', 'commerce' and 'information technology' - lets judge the value of everything by its capacity to "MAKE MONEY!" You said

"It's basically computer skills, programming etc - again an obvious choice in this day and age. That was easy, no question about what to go for in this group"

There doesn't seem much 'debate' between your daughter and you going on here.

But thanks for your contribution - it keeps my mind open to the opinions of others.

Any 'educated' person would have noticed in my original post, quote "SHE wanted to give it a go, AND I AGREED" quote "WE were at loggerheads deciding what to choose". My daughter is kind, caring, and compassionate - beautiful, confident, popular, intelligent and witty - need I go on? Give me interfering parent any day if offspring turn out like my daughter!!
Oh and should every other parent attending the choices evening trying to do the best for their children also be labelled interfering?
Wonderful discussion anyway - keeps the mind open to others' opinions. Thank you all for your comments.

alaneroberts - are you a hippy? Or perhaps a tree-hugger? Maybe both.

Dear God!

From reading through these posts, I think we should stop called schools 'schools', but perhaps we should call them 'Business Centres'. Let's stop calling students 'students', but rather 'future employees'. So many of you have forgotten, or don't realise, about the 'joy' of education in itself. You are so quick to label subjects 'Mickey Mouse' because they don't seem to have a direct relevance with the world of business. How sad you are! There is much more to education than just leading directly to employment. It is an opportunity for learning for the sake of learning, to appreciate different viewpoints and opinions, to explore subjects and develop them simply because of the interest and love of them. A lot of this has already been lost because of the extreme 'exam focus' of the subjects - teachers are now more adept at 'teaching to the exam' than teaching the subject itself. Most of the posts I've read here are only adding to the problem. It is a sad reflection of many parents that they cannot see this and are too quick to condemn their own children to the "rat race", probably priding themselves in doing so that they are doing what's best for their own children. Sad, very sad!

And I want to be a Police Officer not be on the dole like most people will be in my school.

Teach them right, I mean product design, graphic design, food technology and systems technology. I have taken ICT at GCSE level and have nothing against technology in terms of ICT etc.

It sounds to me that you (the original post) should stop being such an interfering parent and let your daughter choose the subjects. The trouble is that parents are forever linking subjects - even at GCSE - to possible future careers, rather than understanding that the main priority is the development of 'skills'. In most cases, it doesn't matter what the subject is.

I pity the poor daughter having to put up with such a domineering, 'know-it-all' parent who, in reality, seems to know very little.

Lee technology is important. We are a modern race becoming ever dependant on it to survive. YOU need technology so you know what the heck that thing is that she's pressing buttons next time you go down to collect your dole check. As for MFL and learning foreign languages. It would be nice if you at least knew where the highly skilled foreign workers taking your jobs came from would it not?