To be tired of teachers exaggerating

[onarailwaytrain]

Dd and DS (twins) in year 11 at the moment and all we have heard is how they have to get their GCSEs, their lives will be ruined if they don't, they will never get to college and never get a good job. Etc.

Dd in particular is unlikely to get many cs or above. AIBU in thinking the teachers should back off a bit?

I suppose grockle because they have jobs now.

There's an extremely unpleasant undertone in your posts, you know.

There is no undertone, just a differing opinion (you don't notice the rude posts that agree with you, after all). Just because someone is saying things you don't like does not make them unpleasant.

I had plenty of jobs as a teen, didn't stop me being unemployed in my thirties, and that was with lots of qualifications.

I'm sure.

My point was that not passing - not being able to pass - their GCSEs - does not mean a life at the job centre is their only destiny; as you acknowledge yourself, this could happen to anybody at any time.

You seem to think my children are wilfully choosing not to pass. Obviously, this isn't the case - they are trying but struggling, a lot. I don't think they'll get a lot of GCSEs. I don't think their lives are ruined because of this.

The thing is grockle box if the world is really as you describe it then there is a whole section of society who just don't have the ability tp pass exams who are confined to the rubbish heap.Written off at 16 because they are unable to pass an arbitrary exam .

What is my ds meant to do for the next 50 years of his life,be a burden on the state and never have the fulfilment of earning his own living, are we going back to the 1950s where people with learning difficulties were condemned to be institutionalised .

Ds is determined to get a job and support himself , he is capable of many things but not it seems sitting exams , he needs someone to explain the questions and he needs a second go at things sometimes .Yes he hasn't got as many qualifications as his brothers but sometimes he has a lot more common sense!

The thing is grockle box if the world is really as you describe it then there is a whole section of society who just don't have the ability tp pass exams who are confined to the rubbish heap.Written off at 16 because they are unable to pass an arbitrary exam .

What is my ds meant to do for the next 50 years of his life,be a burden on the state and never have the fulfilment of earning his own living, are we going back to the 1950s where people with learning difficulties were condemned to be institutionalised .

Ds is determined to get a job and support himself , he is capable of many things but not it seems sitting exams , he needs someone to explain the questions and he needs a second go at things sometimes .Yes he hasn't got as many qualifications as his brothers but sometimes he has a lot more common sense!

Oh onarailwaytrain the thing about this thread is that you could make your point (which I agree with and I completely understand where you are coming from as I have a DD who really struggles) time and time again, but lots of these posters are never going to understand it, its just beyond their comprehension, they are never going to grasp the concept. You could try shouting, or telling them their lives will be ruined, or they will end up working at KFC but I don't think it'll make much difference

Onatrain - just picking up on your post about your son's Spoken Lang work. There is no way he should have been allowed to get 3/20 - that is seriously uncaring or inadequate teaching of that unit IMO. My bottom set all got 7, 8, 9 out of 20 last year - these were kids who ended up with E-G grades. But well supported and taught they achieved in class.

I'd be talking to his teacher if I were you.

I don't think they'll get a lot of GCSEs. I don't think their lives are ruined because of this

Of course they're not ruined, OP - held back or compromised potentially, but certainly not ruined

I have a very dear friend who was also consider non-academic but who now runs her own very successful recruitment company ... I also have another one, very similar in academic terms, who has done absolutely nothing with his life. The difference is that the first pulled her socks up and put a vast amount of effort into her company, whereas the second blames everyone else for his failure, insisting everyone's "nasty to him" "doesn't understand" and that it "just isn't fair"

As so often, it's the attitude which has made the difference ...

To be fair, you do not have to be academic to scrape 5 passes at GCSE including maths, English but it would make a huge different to them and their options if they can. Academic children will be leaving with 9+ A*-B's. Unless they have learning difficulties, I really think it is quite reasonable for the teachers to put pressure on your kids. It's their job.

Btw, your kids sound great. I expect they'll be fine. But they will have to resit their maths and English at college!

Grockle - you are sounding rather sour, tbh. You may have a valid point but you make it in a v negative way.

Of course I have been to open days at my local college, I thought I had already explained how difficult it was to have a child leave school at 16 yrs and get in a career path.
Things have changed - I posted the link this morning that explains it and one person said they wouldn't bother to read it! What happened to school leavers in 2013 is different from what will happen in future, so the fact that I have been to local college open days in the past is irrelevant.
It is also not talking bollocks to say that employers don't want graduates in care homes, shops, bars etc. I personally know of lots- and each one is filling a job that could be taken by an unqualified school leaver. They may not stay, but people don't generally in those jobs so you may as well have someone with an English degree in a care home in the meantime- even if they move on.
They can take longer but I can't see the harm in knowing the reality.

I really feel for you and your children railway I agree, they're teachers are putting too much pressure on them and telling them downright lies.

Next time they are threatened with the prospect of working at KFC by one of their teachers ask them to ask 'what's wrong with working at KFC then? Do they know how much the managers of big restaurants earn, or area managers, or franchisees? Some of them are managing mult million pound turnovers and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them earn more than a teacher.

Sorry, typos, maybe I should have worked harder at school

That was me who didn't want to read it, as it wasn't what my thread is about.

I'm well aware of the changes and how they will impact DCs. I don't have an issue with the changes. DS is literate because of teachers. Dd is numerate because of teachers. Why would more teaching be an issue?

But it is almost certain they will not get English and maths GCSEs, and as someone has said, this does not mean they will never work! They are both working NOW, for goodness' sakes.

Just looked up average manager salary KFC £37,059. Not bad.

No one said they wouldn't work - people just need to understand the changes and the implications- I can't see the harm in telling it how it is. When I was at school a teacher said something equally depressing, I proved them wrong but it doesn't mean there wasn't an element of truth in what they said. Unless you have actually had a child through the system you probably don't know the youth employment problem. You are not to know that the chap washing the dishes in your restaurant has a 2:1 from a RG university, the woman on the checkout at M&S Food has similar - I know too many to continue listing.

Perfectly true, Kendodd - but isn't it the case that many of their managers have reached that position through KFC's graduate fast track programme??

The lad washing dishes in our local hotel doesn't have any GCSEs at all (DS.)

Some jobs - it's not qualifications they want, at all. It's misleading to say that they do.

When DS wanted a job at Pizza Hut there were 100 applicants. You can't just assume KFC will take you. DS had 2 interviews for Argos- at least 50 applicant for 2 jobs. The last retailer to open locally had 350 applications for 53 jobs.

No one us saying you can't get a job washing up without qualifications- merely that a lot are being done by graduates and they are taking jobs from those without.

No one is assuming anything, but what I am saying is lack of qualifications is not the reason these people aren't taken on (and where do you all live ... DDs KFC is permanently understaffed.)

Any Employer or Company that employs a graduate in a full time position washing up or in basic employment is a "disgrace". Two reasons. The first is it is counter productive to employ anyone so under employed and will result in a shoddy could not care attitude and to get out as soon as the first chance comes around. The second reason it is disgraceful not to give people who need a chance at the ground floor level in any business, based on a stupid view that some-one with a degree is more suitable in that role. The usual reality is that the degree educated people are less "able" in those basic roles anyway part of the reason being the attitude that surely must be there.

Companies should be encouraged to employ pupils at 16 pupils with E grade GCSEs or below in Maths/English they could get a initial £1500 for employing the youngster ,£5000 for 5 years employment and £10000 should the youngster make Managerial level with in 6 years. The employment would be 3 days at the workplace 2 days would be in the classroom until 18 improving their English/Maths and skills needed for employment and life.

It's a good idea on the face of it, Smokepole - a bit like local schemes which underwrite part of an youngster's wage on condition they're given training

For it to work, though, there have to be VERY careful procedures in place to make sure employers don't take advantage ... I've seen it happen time and time again, and all too often the various schemes then claim "we don't have the funding to pay for checks"

*grocklebox8

A lot of graduates are unemployed because their degrees are utterly useless. A degree in English literature does not have many direct applications beyond teaching. Academic degrees on their own do not prepare someone for a career. There arent' the graduate training schemes of the past that took anyone with a degree.

Of course it is a disgrace- but it happens.
The government has decided that every pupil should reach a certain standard- that is what should be tackled - and not the teacher who points it out - (or the person who posts the link so that you can read about the new policy.)
It isn't a thread about whether thousands should bother doing English Literature.
There are not the jobs for graduates that there used to be.
Jobs that a 16 yr old could get with good O'levels now need a degree.
Jobs that didn't need qualifications are disappearing.
There is a massive youth unemployment problem and the figures are hidden. My son was unemployed for over a year but he didn't show up on any statistics.