my thoughts on the british baccaleaurate, and how people around my age are treated.

PetiteQuark

so, this isn't exactly really political. nor is it really directed at anyone in particular, these are just my thoughts on how i feel that people aged 11-19 (secondary school students and 6th formers) are treated and perceived

I really, really disagree with Rishi Sunak's 'british baccalaureate ' plan, i think that 16 year olds are wise enough to specialise in a field. Sunak's argument for continuing maths and english post 16 is because other countries, such as france or america continue maths post 16 (actually, france doesn't, people there finish school, or 'collège' at 15, rather than 16, then they go on to do apprenticeships, or do 'le bac' at lycée, which is the equivalent of 6th form there, further more they also sort of specialise but not exactly like we do.) and the american education system isn't like the British education system, americans start school later and they dont take essay based exams like we do.
Also, why on earth should we become more like france or america. America isn't even that great. I feel like young people here are treated better here than they are in america,

I once heard about that there are certain 'institutions' that disguise themselves as boarding 'schools' for children and teenagers with mental health problems or don;t get along with their parents, only to get abused and harmed at these institutions, and they havent even been shut down. but there is an effort to shut them down, Ive used a spoiler because i myself dont like thinking about such things

actually America didnt even ratify the UN convention of children's rights, I don't mean to make it seem like america is like a bad place, im trying to say that we dont need to change the way post 16 education works just so we could be like other countries. This sounds weird coming from someone who had to retake her GCSEs, but I still appreciate the fact that I could have specialised in a field i liked at 16-18, ultimately it was really my fault that I didn't get the required grades, most of my friends have gone onto their chosen courses, but i didn't and i realise that really thats my fault. I don't think that the school leaving age should be lowered down to 15 or below, i think it should remain 16, I think that the age of majority should remain 18, I also think the voting age should be lowered to 16, I studied history, I understand how horrible people could be to one another, i understand the cold war, how ww1/www2 happened,, i understand newton's laws of motion, i understand modified newtonian dynamics - I'm not as stupid as some people think I am, I'd love to have a say in how changes are made to the gcse or post 16 curriculum, because it affects me, I want to have a say in how underfunded science is and how underfunded the NHS and how underfunded schools are, they should get more funding.

People also think that people aged 11-16 (high school students), or well people aged 11-19 , are stupid.
Some people think that, people in that age group are stupid and are 'too hormonal' and can't even think. In the most polite way I could possibly write this out; those people who think that are extremely, extremely daft. There are many kinds of hormones (literally proves how much these kind of authoritarian, dim-headed...oafs know about biochemistry) literally, from erythropoietin, which stimulates red blood cell production, to adrenaline which triggers the flight or fight response, to progesterone which actually has a link in improved cognitive function. Even though, i'm 16, and im at 6th form, I use the age group '11-19' because technically, people who are 11-16 are in secondary school and i feel like, they get perceived even worse than 6th formers do, even though I'm retaking my gcses, (well im going to switch courses next month) at sixth form we are given alot more independence and we get treated more like adults, we call our teachers by their first names, its a bit weird for me, I have to admit.
But in secondary school you get treated more harshly, you get told off for every little thing, but then at 6th form, certain people think that your opinions don't matter or you don't know anything because your age ends in -teen. i think thats a silly thing to assume, I was an 11 year old once, I was really anxious and i got bullied alot, I am still anxious, I feel a bit jealous sometimes that I didn't get to do physics, but my friends did. Instead of invalidating the emotions of problems of those younger than me, I hope that they find solutions to their problems and worries.
sorry for me rambling, and sorry if my grammar/spelling isn't good i was revising for my mocks, and im also a bit mad about this)

PetiteQuark

i mean, i dont know everything, but its not that i know nothing at all. I have a slight idea of how the world works and im eager to understand more about the world.

lunarcat522

@PetiteQuark I agree, I think people should be able to choose what they want to study, especially at age 16, maths caused me a lot of grief even at Nat 5 so I can't imagine doing higher! I also agree on the voting thing but I think there should be a bit more education surrounding how the political system works like elections, parliament etc. Not sure about anywhere else but Scotland has modern studies which is mandatory until S2 (age 13-14) but I think it should be continued slightly further so people understand the different forms of voting systems like FPTP, STV and AMS. I also agree, the state of America is quite worrying at the moment, but that's not to say it doesn't have its positives, I'd love to go to New York, but maybe not anytime soon due to the political climate.

I would argue that teenagers are actually very smart and I don't think they get enough credit due to having a lot of stereotypes which is unfortunate because I know many teenagers that are very well articulated and versed in world issues and debates.

PetiteQuark

lunarcat522 wrote: »

@PetiteQuark I agree, I think people should be able to choose what they want to study, especially at age 16, maths caused me a lot of grief even at Nat 5 so I can't imagine doing higher! I also agree on the voting thing but I think there should be a bit more education surrounding how the political system works like elections, parliament etc. Not sure about anywhere else but Scotland has modern studies which is mandatory until S2 (age 13-14) but I think it should be continued slightly further so people understand the different forms of voting systems like FPTP, STV and AMS. I also agree, the state of America is quite worrying at the moment, but that's not to say it doesn't have its positives, I'd love to go to New York, but maybe not anytime soon due to the political climate.

I would argue that teenagers are actually very smart and I don't think they get enough credit due to having a lot of stereotypes which is unfortunate because I know many teenagers that are very well articulated and versed in world issues and debates.

Well, in England, we have PSHE, which is taught until the end of year 11, at college we dont really do phse. There used to be an extra subject like phse (general studies) in alevels that you had to do, but we dont do them anymore, so I didn't really need to do that.
We also learn a bit about politics in history actually if you do it for GCSEs, i learnt about how the NHS was founded, we have a whole topic on... Germany and it's politics in the 1920/30s, so yes I think 15/16 year olds do understand a bit about the rules that govern them. Its also unfair because we have no say in the rules that govern us, personally I preferred the old GCSE (grades A-G) rather than the ones they use now (grades 9-1), it would've been nice if the year 11s in 2019 couldve voted against it, since 2019 was the year the new grades were implemented.

The state of america is a bit worrying, I have relatives who live there, they've lived there for a long time, but now they are thinking of going back home (im not sure i don't talk to them often). Ive heard last year about some really stupid rules that have been made in america which do not make sense and are actually really dangerous! I also think that we are given alot more independence in the UK than in the US, ive seen people who are working in garages fixing cars at 16, and they'll be fully qualified mechanics at 18, but in the US you would have to stay in high school until 18, i understand that highschool in the US starts later than it does in the UK and that what we do in alevels is what americans do in 'undergrad' at 18 so technically we're ahead. I also think it should remain that way. I think that people who are around my age are really underestimated. I once did a 'career quiz' at college, and one of the questions asked if I was 'good at working with babies, children and teenagers' i think that babies shouldn't really be grouped together with teenagers or children, personally I dislike being around babies or little children because they're messy and you cant really hold conversations with them, but i prefer being around people my age, or slightly younger or older than me because its interesting hearing about other peoples hobbies, ambitions or opinions. Speaking of college, im pretty excited that im changing courses, i might be doing computer science or maybe also physics or maths depending on my grades. It feels so boring just repeating everything again, i really wanted to do some actual science but gcses are hard and im not very bright