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Poor choice of subjects to study at school

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I've just been through helping my daughter choose her options at school and was shocked at the poor subject choices available.  Now my daughter is no Einstein or even the next Carole Vorderman, but she's certainly not short of a few brain cells, but the subject choices were unbelievably poor.  We had to choose one subject from three main groups.

The first group had nothing really academic at all.  There were around six or seven 'arty' technology type subjects.  The best of the bunch for my daughter was "Food and Technology".  What a waste of valuable school time so we look at the alternative - a vocational course, i.e. a day release to study at the local college in town.  Even though I think she should be at school it is a way of getting her accustomed to further education environment, so we opted for this and even then the best that was on offer was hairdressing!

Choosing subjects - we were at loggerheads trying to decide

In the second group I would opt for business studies for her in this day and age, but she's really good on the stage and is very much interested in pursuing this.  I know it's a tough profession, but she's up for the challenge and therefore wanted to do drama which is in the same group.  Also in this group was good old fashioned History and Geography.  We were at loggerheads deciding what to choose.

Advice from her teachers led us to decide on drama.  "Let her do something she's really interested in" I was told. "Far better she does well at something she enjoys it, rather than struggle with a subject and fail because she's just not interested." they said.  Fair enough I suppose, but I don't remember having that kind of pampering in my day.

School subject choices poor In the final group of subjects the most obvious choice was AiDA - what on earth is that?  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.  She wanted to give it a go and I agreed.

However, because we chose vocational learning in the first group, she she isn't allowed to take this subject.  All the subjects in this final group were off limits because we chose vocational learning in the first group.  Why for goodness sake?  This "AiDA" seemed perfect whatever a child ends up doing in life.  I was so disappointed and I guess annoyed.

Did anyone else find this stage of their child's school life daunting, challenging and nerve racking?  It just seemed to be a nightmare finding the right combination from a load of poorly grouped subjects.  Where's the "education" of our future generation and why can't there be a reasonably diverse set of subjects in each group?

By: Pepa


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Mrs overall

Mrs overall

Miss mop..... Typing error big wup! Then than..... At least you got the point of my gripe and having slight learning difficulties doesn't help with spelling etc. Also it hits my point exactly to concerntrate more on English then maybe people like me won't make these basic errors. Enough explanation for you? Xxx
08/11/10 Mrs overall
-2
Mrs overall

Mrs overall

Scrap art, drama, woodwork, cookery, music etc and concentrate more on maths and English and IT studies, they are far more useful then learning how to bake buns and carve wood.
07/11/10 Mrs overall
-10
BennotBill

BennotBill

I did my A levels this year and all we seemed to do was practice loads of exam papers and learn out of booklets. Sooooo boring!
04/08/10 BennotBill
-7
anon

anon

1 in 5 school-leavers are illiterate and innumerate. Why complain about choice when the basics cannot be achieved.
08/05/10 anon
5
Richard

Richard

I honestly came to that point, my parents had no say in the matter we we're handed those forms during the 30 minute lunch time registration periods and they were expected back at the end of that period. Made some poor decisions, then further uniformed decisions as I got to college 6th form was not really an option, I'm in the first year of a Degree I could have realistically started in 2005 if I had been given more information and a little bit of guidance. I regret nothing, but do wonder where my life would be if I had started the degree back then, since by now I would be on the final year of my PHD.
16/03/10 Richard
3
Unfortunate Derelict

Unfortunate Derelict

Incredible.... as a 14 year old currently just started high school, I explored advanced course options as I am finding my first semester courses far too simplistic and useless. Yes, the workload is intense, but a complete waste of time due to the subject material. It was just my luck to discover that my school does not offer Honors classes, or Advanced Placement programs, forcing me to attend exorbitantly expensive private school. In addition, one of the things I looked forward to when coming to highschool was studying a language other than French. My highschool is a split English and French Immersion institute, and I was astounded to find that languages other than French, such as Spanish, Italian, German and Japanese, were only offered to French Immersion students, which I am not. I have questioned Guidance about this, and found no alternative to studying these languages aside from putting aside part of my summer while other students at my highschool are able to learn within the bounds of the school day. There are also special field trips only offered to French Immersion students that the English speaking student body is never allowed to experience. Incredibly dissatisfied as I am with the fact that my highschool caters to French-speaking students, and practically ignores the needs of those not falling into that category, I still fail to see why it is possible to employ a teacher who teaches foreign languages in French, but not English. Our school system here in Canada is thoroughly unbalanced.
25/01/10 Unfortunate Derelict
-6
M

M

Dear Pepa, at my sons school we had to chooce 3 subjects for his year 11, one subject from three different blocks. What a nightmare, and at the end of it he still did not get the academic subject due to lack of interest from other students. Trying to re-choose ment affecting the other two blocks. A less than satisfactory event
30/09/09 M
-4
Biggles

Biggles

When I was at school I could only choose traditional subjects like History, Geography, English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Music and Drama. These are broad subjects that stretched me academically and are far superior to these vocational training subjects taught in schools today. The only 'numpty' subjects I chose were Nutrition and Cookery and Typing. Both have been invaluable ever since.

I'm glad I'm not at school these days.
30/05/09 Biggles
-1
RubyDee

RubyDee

My choices were also limited but at least you were told about it! I had to go through the complaints system and get incredibly upset before I was told "oh no, you can't have that with that". WELL WHY NOT WRITE THAT ON THE FORM THEN????? Also while most schools get 4 options, or even 5, my school is a technology school so we HAVE to choose a technology subject.

I wanted: Drama, Triple Science, History and Graphics

I got: Textiles, Drama, History and Triple Science

so not bad overall but I WISH they had just written on the forms what can eb taken with what &c.
07/12/08 RubyDee
2
kat!

kat!

I remember choosing mine about 3 years ago. My parents didn't even talk to me about it.
01/09/08 kat!
-2
tim g

tim g

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.
07/07/07 tim g
-1
alaneroberts

alaneroberts

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!
15/04/07 alaneroberts
3
alaneroberts

alaneroberts

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.
10/04/07 alaneroberts
-5
Pepa

Pepa

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.
09/04/07 Pepa
10
alaneroberts

alaneroberts

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.
09/04/07 alaneroberts
1

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