The headmaster at my teenage son’s school is very impressive. I really like him. He seems to have a very healthy approach to education and somehow manages to get the right pitch during talks to us parents – balancing a reasoned presentation with a reassuring amount of humour. This has the desired effect of warding off the far-too-serious-pushy-parents.
Last night I went to a talk at his school to listen to how to go about helping my son choose his AS and A Level choices. I still don’t really understand. What are A2′s? I flit in and out of consciousness during these sort of evenings. Some bits are SOOO boring. No wonder my parents never came to any of my school events. The parents last night asked a lot of questions about Further maths and American universities and all it made me want to do was ask whether they have cheap rates at The Priory for parents during exam time.
Anyway, the headmaster impressed upon us how important it was to let the children choose for themselves the A levels they want to do and to make their choices based primarily on their enjoyment of the subject and then based on their university and career options and breadth of choice. How incredibly refreshing. Think how many of us would have done entirely different things with our lives if our parents hadn’t chosen for us. I for example, would definitely have been a princess if I’d been allowed to have my own way (I am not actually joking – one of my classmates really did marry a prince).
I asked my son, when I got back from the talk what he thought he wanted to do. “I’m going to be a lawyer because then I can be very rich”. I was horrified and immediately forgot the bit about trying not influence his decision. I told him that he shouldn’t decide his future on the basis of how much money he will make, because money (per se) doesn’t necessarily make you happy. He used to want to be a footballer….who shattered that dream? However, strangely he didn’t seem to want to take my advise terribly seriously. I can’t think why. Just because I have had over six MAJOR career changes in my life. Personally, I don’t think this is a bad thing, but it doesn’t look great on a CV.
I am going to suggest to my ex husband that after his mocks the three of us go out for dinner to look at all the options.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:44 am
The only piece of advice I want to impart is, A-level/AS choices are best made on the basis of what he might want to do at Uni and which Uni he wants to go to (although obviously doing something you are passionate about usually helps too!). Many uni’s won’t accept stuff like General studies, Business studies, Psychology or Law (you can check on their subject websites), even if you intend to study those specific subjects at Uni. Most will prefer the core subjects such as Sciences, History, Geography, English and languages. Good luck! I remember exams times being really stressful – my 18th birthday present was a chemistry tutor and I remember having all my biology stuff drawn on A3 papers and were bluetacked all round the house and my dad trying to test me on plant biology (I hated it)- I wasn’t even given respite when sitting on the loo, since the loo door had revision material stuck on it!! It was totally worth it though, since I loved uni and those days were some of the most fun I’ve ever had.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:05 am
My school (all girls) was pretty academic and competitive. But slightly old fashioned in the future we were aiming towards:
- Top A Levels (only As acceptable)
- to get into a Top University
- to get a Top Job
………………
- to meet a man in said Top Job, marry him, and give up work.
Liberating!
January 21st, 2009 at 7:30 am
Thx clare, but oh no are you telling me I have to be actively involved and stick things all round my house?
Yes, mud – it’s ridiculous isn’t it? Lx
January 21st, 2009 at 10:22 am
I’d be interested to know what is decided. Really enjoyed this post -glad to have found you!
January 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Thanks Sarah – will let you know Lx