Can my year 11 DS drop a subject?

madjay

I totally agree with Dunroamin

seven-day-weekend

My son cried at the thought of having to do French Oral at the front of the class. He was useless at languages and would never have passed. My husband and I went into school and said we didn't want him to do the Oral as we did not want him to be humiliated in front of the class in a subject he was going to fail anyway. We all eventually decided that he could do the Oral just in front of the teacher, our son was happy with this. (He ended up with an F).

Is there some sort of compromise like this that could be reached ?

podperson

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

My son cried at the thought of having to do French Oral at the front of the class. He was useless at languages and would never have passed. My husband and I went into school and said we didn't want him to do the Oral as we did not want him to be humiliated in front of the class in a subject he was going to fail anyway. We all eventually decided that he could do the Oral just in front of the teacher, our son was happy with this. (He ended up with an F).

Is there some sort of compromise like this that could be reached ?

Wow, that's horrible - I remember having to do my Oral exam in a tiny room with just the teacher and that was bad enough! I'm surprised they allow that as surely the other pupils can see what others are saying and get ideas - not to mention it has to be recorded so if someone else was making noise it could mess up the child's recording!

PinkLipgloss

podperson wrote: »

Wow, that's horrible - I remember having to do my Oral exam in a tiny room with just the teacher and that was bad enough! I'm surprised they allow that as surely the other pupils can see what others are saying and get ideas - not to mention it has to be recorded so if someone else was making noise it could mess up the child's recording!

I think there are supervision/staffing issues. I remember having to do it in front of the class when I was in high school. Everyone else is supposed to be doing quiet work but you can't help but listen in regardless!

As a teacher I'd never assess students in this way unless I HAD to (e.g. to assess their "public speaking" skills).

SmallL

I myself went through a similar thing when i did GCSE's.

I loved latin, and was on course for a 'B'. However i also had French as the other language, i found it much less interesting and coupled with all the rules for endings in latin found it very hard to get my tense right in french.
I decided given my major interest in latin i would concentrate on that subject, i put my foot down and insisted i take foundation french exams rather than higher, i told my teacher my reasoning and she wasn;t best pleased at me prioritizing Latin.

In the end i did get my 'B' in latin and a 'C' in french and i have no regrets.

Its very much about realizing your own strengths and realistically what you can achieve with what time and effort your willing toput in.

rising_from_the_ashes

MX5huggy wrote: »

I was your son 17 years ago, please fight to drop it. I did't and wasted time getting an F in French, when I needed to be insuring I got that C in English.

I never ever mentioned my F ever again on a UCAS form, job application etc.

Snap! It was Physics for me ... I absolutely hated it and just didn't "get it" but was told I had to do it (they were into sciences in a big way)

I ended up with an E in that .... but I also got a D in Maths - sure if I'd not had to waste time doing Physics, I'd have passed Maths 1st time (I did resit it and pass then).

It's not just the exams ... it's all the time wasted in class if he's not enjoying it / going to fail / has no interest in it

Good luck

[Deleted User]

lindseykim13 wrote: »

Your child doesn't NEED GCSE's to get by in life, he doesn't NEED to do subjects he doesn't like or find interesting.
All these people stating you have to do crap things in life because thats life are just wrong. It's not right as a child to learn subjects that make you cry same as it's not right as an adult to be in a job that makes you cry!
Why do some people think it's perfectly ok to make a child do something they have no interest in!
The school will tell your child what they should and shouldn't be learning as per their daft rules set by a daft government.
Plently of kids get on perfectly fine in life without a single exam.
My 3 kids oldest being 10 are all home schooled and they won't be taking any exams they don't want to take. They have their own minds and interests and shouldn't all be put through the same system like sheep.
I know plenty of kids that have not a single exam and gone on to college and uni and took subjects they wanted to take.
Just giving you another choice-anyone can decide to remove their child from school and teach them at home if they so wish. You son doesn't have to go to school and do rubbish subjects.
They could allow him to go home for that lesson if they wanted to as they are allowed to offer flexi schooling to those who want to part time home school so you could ask about flexi schooling and say you want to teach him on those days and times when the lessons are and do something he enjoys.

Not having a go at home schooling etc but don't you need to be able to prove that you can educate your kids to be allowed to home school them? Thats my understanding - you cant just keep them home and do nothing surely?

Confused - how exactly do you get to go to uni with no GCSEs/A levels?

'Doesn't need to do subjects he doesn't find interesting'. What a weird comment. I bet if you asked 95% of kids if they really wanted to go to school they'd say no. Also, I bet if you asked adults if they really wanted to go to work it'd be similar.

All well and good living in a perfect world where kids get to do what they want but we live in the real world. Employers are not going to say - ok fair enough, you've got no qualifications but I'll give you a job anyway.

Plenty of people doing jobs they dont like. I'd say being unable to get a job because you've got no qualifications might also make a person cry....

(But of course, we've got the comfy benefit system for that).

[Deleted User]

madjay wrote: »

I disagree, your child should not drop the subject, it justteaches your DS that if any thing is to hard just walk away from it. What happenif he gets stressed over maths would you want his to drop that too. All youwill be teaching you child is how to give up. You would be better try to findout part of the subject he has a problemwith and helping him to sort it out and teaching him how not to stressed overthings. When my DD stresses out over some subject saying she can not do it so Ijust sit down and help her work it all out. You child needs to learn that inlife there is thing we all struggle with but you just can’t walk away from youjust have to deal with it.

Someone with sense....

[Deleted User]

madjay wrote: »

My children have their own minds and interests and are told to question any thing they disagree with so are not sheep and do not follow any one. They taught you have to work at everything in life its not handed to you and just do not give up any thing at the first step. I do not put pressure them to do well I help them to learn to stand on their own two feet. I know went my kids start to stess over work loads and contact the school when I feel its to much. But sorry you do need to pass exams if want a job

Spot on. especially about things not handed on a plate. Thats the trouble these days - find the easy way out.

[Deleted User]

Dunroamin wrote: »

What a totally irresponsible attitude and what a bad advertisement for home schooling.

Exactly. No qualifications = another person claiming benefits.