Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

Hang on....

Lir yells...'boss.......'

At 13 you leave scuola media where you go from 10 to 13 then you go to your liceo or other route. He cannot remember what a non liceo route is (and sadly neither can I though one was on one of my walking routes so I should remember as it was one of my landmarks).

So 13.
I think that's too young too, worse than narrowing down for gcse's. and I wouldn't have liked the division of subjects according to group at the different schools.......

After scuola media they go on to scuola superioire to do their biennio & triennio,
If they don't go the academic route (liceo) they tend to go to an 'istituto' (vocational).

lostinrates

Thanks its me.

I walked past an instituto technico most days. silly us.

zagubov

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I picked the subjects that I liked - history, chemistry, maths. School made me do further maths as well which I didn't want to do ( and which was a disaster - I ended up getting an N!). Then towards the end of L6 I discovered that actually I needed two science a levels to get into some of the uni courses which I wanted to do, so I ended up having to drop history and do biology in a year. I tried to drop further maths and replace it with biology but school said no as they wouldn't let you do four different subjects at the same time (with maths they compressed maths into one year and then you did further maths in the upper sixth).

It all irritated me greatly and I nearly dropped out of school and went to work in a toothpaste factory instead. We chose our a-level subjects whilst in year 11, I seem to recall. I think it was too early to have to decide and to narrow down options for university. AS levels introduced a bit more flexibility I suppose but I think they came the year after I left school (either that or my school didn't do them). A baccalaureate type thing with perhaps one extra subject of your own choice on top would be far better I think.

Back in the day after O grades (like GCSEs) at 16, we spent one year studying 4 to 6 subjects for a year (they called it the two-term dash). English and maths for everybody and two sciences and two languages (Latin and French). You could do fewer but you had to mix numerate and literate subjects.
At 17 you could go straight to university for a four year degree and could mix subjects, even ones outside your faculty. You didn't really have to decide what your precise degree was until the start of the second year. A mate who started in science with me mixed in some "arts" subjects and switched to a humanities degree getting an MA instead of a BSc.

I liked the flexibility - if you have to pick three subjects at 16 you're then on a one-way street with no exits.

You could stay at school for another year in Scotland if you wanted to go to uni anywhere else in the UK, by studying three subjects until you were 18. But then you'd only be at uni for three years.

There were no subjects like Sociology either, or anything whose name ended in Studies; it was all very "trad".

SingleSue

silvercar wrote: »

DS2 and I (way back when) both struggled to find 4 subjects we wanted to study to A level.

Always seems unfair that straight scientists get 3 A level subjects ripe for picking, with the addition of Maths it's an easy choice. The rest of us struggle to get 3 desired A levels that are that narrow.
Of course if you are not yet ready to specialise its fine, but for those of us who choose young it is really hard.

It was not any real problem for eldest but for middle son, it has been a nightmare! They have messed him about something silly and the latest one is that something he had chosen (on their advice) as a double award, he now can only do a single award and to chose an extra subject...by Monday and with no idea what fits into his timetable.

I think they are still under the misconception that middle son is like James and can switch about with not a care in the world and get the unspoken directives they tend to do at that school. So another meeting on Monday to let them know (again!), that middle son has a verbal understanding disability and that a fish would win a memory competition against him :rotfl:

The meeting on Friday went well, the only teacher who could talk to me about the problem with youngest's English teacher....was his English teacher! So I took the bull by the horns and we thrashed it out between us (verbally and calmly I hasten to add!). The upshot of it is that they have agreed to try to get on this year and to possibly increase his working outside of the main class more (despite it going against what we have been trying to achieve with his socialisation, but we have to think of his education and potential) and youngest is a lot happier and more positive towards his teacher now.

MiserlyMartin

GDB2222 wrote: »

You are welcome to join in. You just need to bare your soul a little.

Everybody here:

a) Lives in Herts or Outer Herts. (Outer Herts comprises the rest of the universe outside Hertfordshire proper, which is the hub of the universe.)

b) Likes mushrooms. Or they don't.

As for me: I live in N London, which is quite close to the hub of the universe. And I like mushrooms. (Not my favourite food, but I can cope with them.)

I see! So we are not allowed to mention houses on this thread then?

GDB2222

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I see! So we are not allowed to mention houses on this thread then?

The H-word is fine, but the H-word in conjunction with prices might ruffle some feathers.

In the end, you post what you like, and if they don't like it other people will probably ignore it.

misskool

rain.

was planning on gardening and planting my perennials today and i have some lovely pansies.

PasturesNew

I was all the way down there, but now I am back here.

lostinrates

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I see! So we are not allowed to mention houses on this thread then?

We mention houses all the time, Fixing them, our personal journeys on buying them, or selling them. Hating them, loving them. Furnishing them. Painting them, heating them, freezing in them.

Do feel free to join in. We do so like a new nice person.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

I was all the way down there, but now I am back here.

Now I am old somehow I love getting home from holidays more than going on them...that is until it is time to wake up for work....

Frequent heavy showers here which isn't suiting my sorting garage and garden for winter (last winter the car and junk all fitted in the garage so it shouldn't be impossible to achieve it again this year. Also mitigating against doing a lot is how much my back is hurting, sitting in the chair sort of helps but I know I will pay for it when I try to stand up.

It looks like we are still going to buy the btl/development opportunity, with some more attempts to develop the garden (next one will look like what I originally proposed to the architect) but a fall back is to extend the existing 3 bed, lots more plans to be done by me then changed into something different by the architect...