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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.
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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I'm glad I'm not at school these days.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Mrs overall