Why is 6th form thought of more highly than attending FE college ?

[Summersunshinee]

I can never understand why if you say that you attend 6th form at school you are thought of more so than if you attended FE college.

I would feel that if anything it would be more impressive to attend FE college as you made the decision to go somewhere else and try something different /

@bruffin Sounds like hard work and very involving, all the best with that.

The reduced offer is usually called contextualisation. It can be based on a variety of things, not always the school but postcode, family income, parental education. Each uni will apply a bit differently. Postcode is quite common, I.e how many from that area typically go to University as you could have a college with a wide variety of intake.

@PettsWoodParadise I never knew that, but i guess it`s a good way of having a geographic mixture of people.

I still think you could have pushed him into the vocational side of things.

Plenty of vocational routes where Maths and Physics are useful.

For example Business/accountancy and Construction/architecture.

Just trying to give examples not trying to start WW3.

Why are you so desperate to push vocational, everyone is different and academics suited him. He had fun in 6th form. He got on great with teachers. He asked questions the maths faculty would go away and discuss. They let him mentor other students and even teach a class. His 6th form stem scholarship paid for him to go to the Hadron Cholider sp, and a course at Imperial College, which got him an invite to Google head offices, even a dinner party with a City worshipful company
He has a great careers ahead of him in pharmacruticals, he is already running projects and his take home this year will be 50k on an apprenticeship and has bought a 2 bed flat by himself.
I really can't see what he has missed out on. He has also travels a lot including Australia twice.

@Summersunshinee genuine question....
Why are you so obsessed about this?
Some people want vocational, some people want academic, some people want a mix, some people prefer apprenticeships.
Why does it matter to you so much?
Why are you so obsessed about why people that aren't you do with their lives?

@bruffin Fair dues sounds like a great opportunity he received and has made the most of it. Does your DD feel left behind ?

@Needmorelego Not obsessed, just having a debate about why certain people choose certain routes.

I perhaps didn’t explain clearly enough, it isn’t about geographic areas it more about deprived vs affluent, likelihood to have been in a poor neighbourhood half a mile from a very affluent one (as can happen in London). Living in poor quality neighbourhood can make ot more challenging to study, have access to a quiet space to revise etc.

Not really , she is independent, has done Camp Americ twice and could probably get a job anywhere she chooses to live.

That`s good.

What area does she work in ?

Pediatric Occupational Therapy

That is quite something.

Is that in the NHS/Private sector or a bit of both.

NHS

@Summersunshinee but you don't seem to be debating. You instantly seem to put down anyone who says their teens chose academic A-Levels at a 6th Form by saying "why didn't you encourage them to go to college instead?" rather than just accepting that's the path they wanted to go down.

Perfectly said!

Seconded and thirded. You seem unable to accept that post 16, young people will very often know what it is they want to do in life and how they want to get there. If that is academia and academic success then A levels followed by university is the route to go down. Why should they not be allowed to do that? Why would I have wanted to suggest to my DC2 that he might want to do bricklaying rather than a second science and not do Marine Biology, which he had his heart set on from age 14? That would have been ridiculous and bad parenting.

Some young people want and suit a vocational route. Others suit a mix. Yet others suit the academic pathway. Trust them to make good choices.

Yep DD would have been miserable being a plumber despite DH’s entreaties about the earning power. DD just couldn’t imagine herself doing anything other than studying English at university and her passion shone through enough to convince the interviewers I’m her Oxbridge tests and assessments. A friend’s DS couldn’t wait to leave books behind and is thriving st college doing carpentry. Each are passionate about what they do. It isn’t a competition.

I haven`t bashed them for choosing A levels at 6th Form.

I have simply suggested other courses they could have done at college and asked why they chose not to is all.

@Needmorelego @bruffin and @PettsWoodParadise

You are all very defensive.

@Summersunshinee. I mention that I know people who are happy whatever route they take, how is that defensive?

You dont accept that there is another route and people should try that also to see what its like and so they can form a balanced opinion.

I have simply suggested other courses they could have done at college and asked why they chose not to is all.

Those courses would not have got my DC where he wants to be, which is studying Marine Biology. It really is as simple as that. You want people to self sabotage and set their passions aside because - well, I'm not at all sure why, there's no sense or reason to it. Why can't you accept that young people have every right to make their own choices, map out their own paths and follow them?

As things stand, doing bricklaying instead of Biology would have meant a wasted year for my DC, a longer and more difficult route to his chosen career and less enjoyment. There's nothing good about that.

We are not being defensive just having to explain the same very simple thing over and over again to someone who is not getting it!

I just feel that you are all looking down on vocational routes and probably sneer at people who pursue them.

This feels like a typical attitude sadly.

Not at all, you clearly haven’t read anything I’ve posted. I know there are choices. DH and o are from two ends of the educational spectrum so low these choices better than most. I did a degree, he didn’t. DD has made informed choices. I have friends who have DCs who have made different choices. Accept people make choices based on informed knowledge and whst suits them,