AIBU to think Bs at GCSE are ok?

[catwalker]

Some issues with DS and GCSEs/6th form. He didn't get the grades he was predicted (As and As) but then I didn't expect him to as he doesn't put much effort into anything apart from his x box. He got mainly Bs, a couple of As, a couple of Cs and a couple of Ds. I was quite happy until I started reading the secondary education forum where people are tearing their hair out because their dc's didn't get straight As and may have blown their oxbridge chances. I get the impression that anything less than an A just isn't worth the paper it's written on. He could have done loads better but Bs are OK aren't they?

Why would you have needed to find it in your heart not to congratulate him? That sounds much the same as what Eightieschick has said you said?

Agree eightieschick. I have never made a penny from anything connected to the subjects I excelled at in exams yet once I pursued something I loved I created a good life for myself and am comfortable and debt free in my mid 40s. Life is about many many things and which uni you went to is way down the list in the big picture!

working - that is so true about industry experience. Teeside for example turns out very well-respected engineers.

OP my DD also got mostly Bs and some Cs at GCSE, although she was predicted As.

She has just done her AS levels and got 3As and a B. She said she has found it so much easier this year as she has only the 4 subjects to concentrate on, rather than numerous GCSEs.

Also agree with others who have said that there are many other fantastic Unis in the UK, it is so narrow minded to assume that every bright child in the UK should want to go to Oxbridge. It isn't right for everyone.

You think so working?! One suggests I couldn't find a reason not to congratulate him, the other states that I felt guilty about doing so - very different positions I think.

I know personally 2 people who went to Brookes, and they're earning well over 150K pa in their jobs. One is Science based, and the other Law. So I think that is a bit of BS, that law companies won't employ you if you studied law at Brookes. I know another guy, who got the highest grade in his Science BSc Honours at Brookes, and went on to do a phd at Oxford with a scholarship. So another piece of BS, that people don't recognize a Brookes degree.

I agree imperial Dyslexia IS different but, it affects exam results/ coursework grades. Should I accept a straight A student is better at my chosen career than me then? No, because maybe they aren't and maybe my high IQ makes me better than them at the job? Who knows but I certainly never hold that exams are the be all or end all.

cat - might be a difference in how you use the phrase? Round here, if you said 'I couldn't find it in my heart not to', you'd be saying you thought you shouldn't do something really but were doing it out of pity.

I also do not think what a child gets at GCSE should cause people to judge them and write off their whole futures, which is what some people are doing. I do not believe a B at GCSE holds you back from very much at all

But it will hold you back from somethings

catwalker asks if Bs are OK?

They are OK but not good enough for some Universities/careers ... if they are not that the Son wants then the Bs are indeed OK

What is more relevant is that these grades have (apparently) been gained without a great deal of effort ... the OP probably should be concerned about this as the young man will have to put effort in now ... if he thinks these grades are OK then what will change his next steps

In my experience B at GCSE gives C/D at A Level ... again these grades are OK bit they do limit choices

talker - but what will it hold you back from? Very few universities look at GCSEs except as a secondary thing.

The issue is (as you say), whether he will improve or not. Some people who get Bs go on to do very well at A Level, because that different kind of learning suits them, or because they buck their ideas up. IME, until he gets his A Levels, there is not a problem. If he gets Cs/Ds, yes, he'll find it harder. But he may well not, and if he gets As at A level, I doubt many people will mind he got Bs at GCSE. The Cs/Ds would be more of an issue.

LRD yes very few and these do not seem to be the direction that the OPs son is heading so they should not in themselves be an issue for that

I think we agree on the issue but my view is that he needs to know that he has underachieved if he is to make the shift

DS2 got 6Bs and 4Cs for GCSE and received 5 UCAS offers to study Business Economics, four from pre-1992 universities including one Russell Group University. Provided he hasn't set his sights on Oxbridge, LSE, UCL etc, and he works hard for his AS/A2s he can get into a decent university.

Yes, I agree talker.

lily - not that the OP's son wants to go to Oxbridge, but Oxbridge doesn't write you off for not getting all As/A* at GCSE. This is a myth.

Carry on in cloud cuckoo land believing B grades and ex polys do not hold yo back but it is simply not so. It very much depends what you want to do and people with a third class degree sometimes triumph but it would be very wrong to kid a child that it did not have a consequence.

The Government is so worried about some state schools conning children into thinking A levels in useless subjects are as good as proper ones it is producing lists. There is a huge misconception out there amongst some parents and I think it is part of we are all brilliant, no child gets a cross no one is top of the class type of ethos which is completely the opposite of how many workplaces run. You cannot all play fotball like Beckham and to tell little Johnny because he can kick a ball he will get into the leading youth football academy is as unfair as telling him even though in theory he could have got As but he's an idle so and so he can still sail into some things is just wrong.

I know people who left school after O levels as they then were and went on to earn huge sums. However it certainly helps to have good grades and go to a good place. Even if you manage that if you wear the wrong clothes look ugly and have the wrong accent/class for what you're trying to do that matters too.

catwalker as working says, I was paraphrasing you (hence my use of 'effectively') but I read what you said as meaning you felt somehow that you should not really have congratulated him but couldn't help it. Just above you said 'I couldn't find a reason not to' - again this suggests that you felt as if you shouldn't congratulate him. I really don't think you have any reason to feel at all reluctant or bad about it. You can mention that he had the potential to get higher grade but that doesn't make B bad grades, not does it make his results unworthy of congratulations. imperial I think it is possible to do this, though it might need a bit of thinking through in terms of how you would phrase it.

As for this 'Bs at GCSE limit choices' argument, well, so do many decisions in life. Any decision or outcome sets you on a particular path which rules out others; sometimes temporarily, sometime permanently. However, that doesn't mean a terrible outcome, and it shouldn't be assumed that ruling out being a barrister at 16 is some kind of tragedy for a person or the world. As exotic says, the country would be in a bad position if everyone was a barrister or doctor!

It isn't cloud-cuckoo land though Xenia. If your experiences are holding you back, I would suggest it is maybe more to do with something other than your education. Plenty of people manage to be successful with Bs and non-Oxbridge, non-Russell group education.

Xenia, you are extrapolating wildly.

B's at GCSE's and ex-poly's can be excellent routes to success in technical and vocational fields, many of which are handsomely renumerated. This does not equate to "no child gets a cross" or "no child is top of the class".

Oh dear, this really is turning into the barrister thread.
(Sorry I can't do a link: my Oxbridge background didn't furnish me with the right technical skills, and unfortunately I can't be arsed to learn them now :p)

I hate to agree with Xenia but the point is that with As you have a pretty free choice but with Bs some choices will be ruled out .That may not matter to you but if the things you want to do are the A grade things and you have Bs you will be disappointed .

But no-one has yet managed to say which choices these are that are 'ruled out' by B's. Only what's ruled out by not going on to get better grades at A Level. It's scaremongering/smuggery.

I get sent CVs every week. I look at the GCSE grades, A level grades, degree result. If they leave off the GCSE grades entirely you know they are thick or idle.

I'm sure that's true.

I don't think that this thread is about pushy parents; I think that this is about a genuine fear that many qualifications at all levels no longer lead to a job.

I am sure many of us know people who got C grades at GCSE and a third from a former poly and now have a wonderful and stable career. The problem is that we all also know many people who have those qualifications (and indeed grades a lot higher than those) who have jobs rather than careers, and unstable jobs with a constant fear of redundancy.

So many parents are now looking at what kind of qualifications, at various different levels, actually get you a job. Because many qualifications are now not going to improve your job prospects at all, be they a BTEC in textiles or an undergraduate degree in History from a middling university.

To me the B grades are not the problem. The problem would be where you go from there - what is the sensible route for a B grade student? We all know what the sensible route is for the A* student to get a career, but there is a lot of uncertainty for everyone else.

I am increasingly of the view that a lot of it doesn't really matter anyway. There are always opportunities to get into things later or to improve grades etc if the ability is there. My DH didn't get great A levels and went to a then Poly to do business studies, he scraped a 2:1. He managed to get a training contract with a top flight firm of chartered accountants by working at a (smaller) local firm in his Uni holidays and has worked hard all his working life - he now is managing director of a £100m division of a FTSE 100 company. When I met him I earned more than him, I certainly have better academics, yet he has outstripped me career wise and earns twice what I do (this would be the case even if I hadn't taken time out to have DD)

My point is that it's well documented that girls do better at school than boys yet boys do better in the world of work.

Personally I wouldn't want a child of mine to be a doctor or a lawyer, I know people in both professions who are thoroughly miserable and the law in particular is a total bitch for a lack of work life balance. As a lot of PPs have said, the lack of effort is more the issue but maybe exams etc don't interest him and therefore he doesn't want to put the effort in? More important is whether he can step up when it matters TO HIM.

You must be looking at CVs for very junior posts then, Xenia?