A-level results, a generation of young people in poor areas: being left behind

[arista]

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/3735/production/_130833141_croppedi-newspaper_page1_30978472.png.webp

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/C821/production/_130833215_guardianf3wvwqxxoaa4vsk-nc.png.webp


Meanwhile:

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/18/02/74455625-0-image-m-12_1692320497516.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/18/01/74454701-12419153-image-a-1_1692318068916.jpg
[A group of A-level students are seen out
celebrating their A-level results in Leeds]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12419153/A-level-students-drown-sorrows-record-post-Covid-plunge-grades-leaves-60-000-teenagers-scrambling-university-places-73-000-fewer-s-awarded-compared-year.html

[user104658]

Its funny that when you reach proper adulthood you realise that far too much pressure is put on all of it anyway... there's literally nothing you can't do starting from scratch as an adult (if you're intelligent and capable). You have to take a slightly different route into things but it's always possible. Maybe something like medicine a bit harder -- but who wants to be a medical doctor in the UK these days? :joker:.

[Oliver_W]

Its funny that when you reach proper adulthood you realise that far too much pressure is put on all of it anyway... there's literally nothing you can't do starting from scratch as an adult (if you're intelligent and capable). You have to take a slightly different route into things but it's always possible. Maybe something like medicine a bit harder -- but who wants to be a medical doctor in the UK these days? :joker:.

Exactly, you can resit your GCSEs and ALevels pretty much immediately in almost any college, or do an Access Course which can give you everything you need to go to university.

I think a few of my friends could have done with a do-over after school - they did BS degrees like Media Studies, or academic subjects when they had no interest in teaching or working in a field related to that degree. More than a few wish they hadn't wasted their student finance, and now want to go into nursing or teaching or other jobs which require degrees.

For the record, I'm not one of those who thinks "too many" people are going to university, or that its only utility is to train people to get a job. But I do think people should think more carefully about what they're studying.

[user104658]

Exactly, you can resit your GCSEs and ALevels pretty much immediately in almost any college, or do an Access Course which can give you everything you need to go to university.

I think a few of my friends could have done with a do-over after school - they did BS degrees like Media Studies, or academic subjects when they had no interest in teaching or working in a field related to that degree. More than a few wish they hadn't wasted their student finance, and now want to go into nursing or teaching or other jobs which require degrees.

For the record, I'm not one of those who thinks "too many" people are going to university, or that its only utility is to train people to get a job. But I do think people should think more carefully about what they're studying.

I can't argue with that, I started Uni for the first time at 18 and started over twice before I left at 23 still without a degree, and didn't actually finish up until my early 30's :joker:.

I wouldn't say the early attempts were a waste of time exactly... I had a blast, there's ALSO certainly something to be said for not ploughing head-first into full time work straight out of school, however it's definitely not what it's intended for and if I'd waited 'til my early 20's rather than jumping in at 18 I'm sure I'd have had just as good a time but also have had a better idea about what I actually wanted to study.

That said I'm also a big believer that proper study (philosophy, politics, history) has a benefit that goes far beyond career prospects.

[Livia]

They think just one generation has been failed in poor areas? Really? I'd say generation after generation of poor people have been failed by their own country.

[bots]

inner city schools have been terrible forever

[Oliver_W]

I can't argue with that, I started Uni for the first time at 18 and started over twice before I left at 23 still without a degree, and didn't actually finish up until my early 30's :joker:.

I wouldn't say the early attempts were a waste of time exactly... I had a blast, there's ALSO certainly something to be said for not ploughing head-first into full time work straight out of school, however it's definitely not what it's intended for and if I'd waited 'til my early 20's rather than jumping in at 18 I'm sure I'd have had just as good a time but also have had a better idea about what I actually wanted to study.

That said I'm also a big believer that proper study (philosophy, politics, history) has a benefit that goes far beyond career prospects.

Agreed, even if someone is "nothing more than" the most philosophically educated coffee-server in the land, I wouldn't say their education was wasted.

But as you also said, eighteen (in some cases) is a bit young to be making a decision that can use up their only chance at going to university.

[Gusto Brunt]

I have 3 A levels.

English, Law and Sociology.

Never needed to show them to anyone. :D :p

A complete waste of study, maybe. :p

But I remember all that knowledge, and in a way it did give me confidence to know I wasn't thick. :p

[Oliver_W]

I have 3 A levels.

English, Law and Sociology.

Never needed to show them to anyone. :D :p

A complete waste of study, maybe. :p

But I remember all that knowledge, and in a way it did give me confidence to know I wasn't thick. :p

No education or studying is a waste of anything.