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should year 11's be treated more like college students?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i've been thinking a lot over this suject, because we've had quite a few colleges come in and say that lots of people drop out purely because it is so unlike school and soem people find it too difficult to adjust.

if they were given more responsiblity of their learning, and were treated more like adults they might just become more responsible and more mature. i think that teachers seriously mollycoddle year 11 students and praticaly do everything for them, this is certainly right for the lesser ability groups.

what do you think??
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think you are right, people of all ages and types do much better when given responsibility for anything, to be quite honest.

    The solution isn't to treat them more like college students, it's to drop the whole idea of decades long education from the get go. People are over-educated, over trained to the point where it borders on brainwashing. It's certainly timewasting on a grand scale.

    Theres certainly an easy correlation to be made between huge amount of personal problems that exist these days, and the mostly institutionalised population we have.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    there should be some more freedom not so much as some people don't work without lots of interferance and some do, but at the moment theres too much dragging along

    this needs to coincide with serious changes to the GCSE system to make it more versetile and less trainable



    even in colleges though they do it to an extent, because lots of parents like to think its their little child not a developing adult that can have some flexibility and responsibility for their actions
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I personally agree there needs to be major changes to education system of this country. But i also think there should be less emphasis on making sure every single person goes to college/6th form and then to university! Why is there no encouragement anymore to take on apprenticeships and learn a trade or skill?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why is there no encouragement anymore to take on apprenticeships and learn a trade or skill?

    Because that produced thoughtful, methodical people who could actually do things, instead of over educated half-children with no real skills and massive debts.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Our school started to do this while we were in Year 11. It brought in two new double award courses, one in ICT and one in Engineering. They were what's called as 'Independent GCSE's'. Basically the teacher would give us the basic knowledge then present us with a task, which we did on our own.

    The moire gudiance we recieved the lower our mark.

    I loved it, I took the ICT, and am proud to say I achieved a double A. :D But I now also love college, going out and doing the work myself feels so much more easier than being told what to write.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im a year 11, and the problem is that alot of the year group are still immature and dont do the work, i think they should be left if they dont want to work then it'll hit them hard but the school wants a good reputation so they mollycuddle them to get better gcses to make the school look better
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's true enough, I don't even know why i'm in uni, thing is, we're importing the cheap labour but there's still a shortage.

    As for year 11, why pick that out in particular, from the beginning to the end of school you're practically held by the hand every step of the way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Year elevens should be put in a zoo not given more freedom.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think it depends on the individual. some year 11s you could give alot more freedom, but some, you give them freedom and you wouldnt see them for dust, like my brother. although, people i know that have dropped out of colledge have done so because its not like school. i must admit when i went to colledge it took alot for me to do the work cos it werent like being at school!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There would be no benefit for the teachers giving year 11s extra freedom. Spoon feeding the course is the most efficient way to get through the GCSE, and get a good grade. Study leave is a beneficial way of giving students independent learning time, and that works well in my opinion.

    You have to remember not everyone in school wants to learn, and there are the types that are just counting down the days until they leave school, giving them more freedom will just cause chaos
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Probably quite right.

    One thing i'm definitely against is forcing certain subjects to be taken for standard grade (roughly the scots version of GCSEs, i'm sure it's the same kind of system)...i had to do maths and french...managed to cheat my way through french...and didnt terribly at maths...of course, they thought they know better than me what was good for my education, so i may as well have failed maths and, by passing french, i took it to higher (scots a levels) as i didnt have much option to do otherwise and unsurprisingly failed.

    If hadn't been forced to do maths and french for a foreign language, i could have done other subjects which i'd have passed easily and then taken the higher successfully. But oh no.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spliffie wrote:
    Probably quite right.

    One thing i'm definitely against is forcing certain subjects to be taken for standard grade (roughly the scots version of GCSEs, i'm sure it's the same kind of system)...i had to do maths and french...managed to cheat my way through french...and didnt terribly at maths...of course, they thought they know better than me what was good for my education, so i may as well have failed maths and, by passing french, i took it to higher (scots a levels) as i didnt have much option to do otherwise and unsurprisingly failed.

    If hadn't been forced to do maths and french for a foreign language, i could have done other subjects which i'd have passed easily and then taken the higher successfully. But oh no.


    it isnt purely about results though, its compulsory in that hoping you study and therefore learn something from it :p

    did i hate english? yes, could i have subjects vtter suited to my ability? yes

    i wouldnt do it again but at the time it done me good and i do remember ood things, and ways of doing things which i learnt, like right now as my oral assement was in debating
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    it isnt purely about results though, its compulsory in that hoping you study and therefore learn something from it :p

    Aye...but there wasn't any chance of me studying...and i got nothing from it.

    English is rightly compulsory, for obvious reasons...but maths and french...fine if you've got an interest and that's your field...but they aren't necessities to go onto uni or get a good job.

    Still, being in one of lower maths sets allowed for ample opportunity to terrorise incompetant foreign maths teachers - so it wasn't all bad.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    we have to take english, maths, a form of science and IT
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spliffie wrote:
    Aye...but there wasn't any chance of me studying...and i got nothing from it.

    English is rightly compulsory, for obvious reasons...but maths and french...fine if you've got an interest and that's your field...but they aren't necessities to go onto uni or get a good job.

    Still, being in one of lower maths sets allowed for ample opportunity to terrorise incompetant foreign maths teachers - so it wasn't all bad.


    theres the school spirit! :p


    and in all fairness by yor argument english doesnt need to be compulsory either because by 14you really should have learnt to read and write which is all you use english for :rolleyes:


    the reason only some subjects are compulsory, is so you learn a variety of ways of forming arguments and problem solving skills, and french was there so you hopefullly got a basic vocab which tends to help in learning languages later on in life

    thats why english, maths, science, a langauage and history(or)geography should be compulsory and fully timetabled up to 16 imo

    whether or not the teaching is any good is a completly different question



    in terms of basic skills like the 3 Rs you should have learnt them by 14 or 15 EASILY i could read and do arithmetic by thr age of 11 and so most people from my meagre primary school, then in secondary school, to many kids were like "youre going to fail lets just teach you the bare minumum" i know i was pt into the bottom set english class in year 8, through a clerical error and was stuck there all year, i learnt sod all not because the people were thick but because they all seemed to have crisises in life of some form or behavioural difficulties - quite a few were probably autistic

    but we exam things too much in this country so its a case of teaching to the exam or the coursework which disinterests anyone with a brain
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    we have to take IT

    Why?

    We had to take English, Maths, Science and a form of humanities (choice of Religious Studies or intergrated) and anyone who was predicted a C or above for English HAD to take English Lit, which was on after school...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    theres the school spirit! :p


    and in all fairness by yor argument english doesnt need to be compulsory either because by 14you really should have learnt to read and write which is all you use english for :rolleyes:

    No, it isn't :rolleyes: . English covers more than being able to read and write - analysis of meaning, conveying your opinion and setting forth arguments properly amongst others. All of which is a necessity day-to-day for any well-rounded person and obviously a pre-requisite for those embarking on a course of higher education.

    A good system would involve the possibility of avoiding maths and french if you have an actual reason for doing otherwise - as i did.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spliffie wrote:
    No, it isn't :rolleyes: . English covers more than being able to read and write - analysis of meaning, conveying your opinion and setting forth arguments properly amongst others. All of which is a necessity day-to-day for any well-rounded person and obviously a pre-requisite for those embarking on a course of higher education.

    A good system would involve the possibility of avoiding maths and french if you have an actual reason for doing otherwise - as i did.

    But you NEED maths for near enough any job you do, that's why here it's compulsary...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why?

    We had to take English, Maths, Science and a form of humanities (choice of Religious Studies or intergrated) and anyone who was predicted a C or above for English HAD to take English Lit, which was on after school...
    its instead of RE
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    its instead of RE

    isn't RE compulsory?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    isn't RE compulsory?

    Humanities of some sort is...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But you NEED maths for near enough any job you do, that's why here it's compulsary...

    Not true.

    Some jobs require a certain level of maths qualification, loads don't.

    And apart from basic numeracy, you don't need to understand advanced mathematics on a day-to-day basis either.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    im a year 11, and the problem is that alot of the year group are still immature and dont do the work, i think they should be left if they dont want to work then it'll hit them hard but the school wants a good reputation so they mollycuddle them to get better gcses to make the school look better
    Marry me, Ballerina! :D:heart: Agreed with all that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Marry me, Ballerina! :D:heart: Agreed with all that.
    :D sorry but i married moonrat :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    :D sorry but i married moonrat :p
    Don't suppose I could tempt you away, could I? :flirt: :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Don't suppose I could tempt you away, could I? :flirt: :p
    :chin: :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    :chin: :rolleyes:
    I'll take that as a yes. :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    I'll take that as a yes. :D
    i didn't know you liked me SG! :blush:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote:
    i didn't know you liked me SG! :blush:
    How could I not like you? :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    How could I not like you? :)
    aaw, i don't know! you tell me :p
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