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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Disagreement over GCSE options choice

27 replies

Nomad2009 · 18/02/2011 14:47

My 14yo DS told me this morning, as he was half out of the front door, that he decided to choose Resistant Materials (don't ask me what it is) rather than Religious Studies as his 3rd GCSE optional subject. Apparently the reason is that he doesn't know who the RE teacher will be next year and he wants to do something that won't require "a lot of studying". He is in a grammar school and has got brains, but he's making a mess of it, bad behaviour and lazyness, getting worse by the week. RS is the only subject where is doing really well, his teacher was very pleased that he wanted to continue with this subject. Am I being unreasonable in insisting that he sticks to RS (his other chosen subjects are Geography and Business Studies)? I am so angry with him that I am almost thinking about taking him out of grammar school and sending him to the local comprehensive, let somebody else who deserves it more have his place.

OP posts:

pinguwings · 18/02/2011 14:55

Well resistant materials is probably more use that RS. Let him make his mind up about this, GCSE choices aren't the end of the world. And as for wanting to pull him out of grammar school...

elena1975 · 18/02/2011 15:00

All I can say is that DS is also at a grammar and absolutely loathes RM even though it was his choice (they have to do 12 GCSEs so he was scratching the bottom of the barrel). They have more RM (or woodwork, as it is really), than eithr Maths or English which is ridiculous, plus 1.5 hours COMPULSORY after school sessions. He tried to drop it but wasn't allowed to.

Your ds may be different, but mine finds RM a total and utter bore. They've spent about six months making a pen holder.

runaroundstartsnow · 18/02/2011 16:00

My DD loves RM, but she has a large jewellery design componet in hers.She is also making a lamp.She treats this subject like Art&Design. There is a lot of practical coursework.

Original poster

Nomad2009 · 18/02/2011 16:14

Thanks for all your comments - what I don't understand is that this is the first time DS mentions Resistant Materials and he has never had an interest in this sort of stuff before; at the options evening he did not even make an appointment to see the teacher. I suspect this is what his mates have decided to do and he wants to do the same, rather than a real interest.
Not looking forward to more arguments tonight!

OP posts:

scaryteacher · 18/02/2011 16:34

The thing is if he is doing the Edexcel GCSE RE, it isn't really 'a lot of studying' - lots of it is opinion and learning some facts and some quotes. There is no coursework (if Edexcel) as it is pure exam, so the pressure should be off from that. It is positively marked as well (I should know, I mark it) and lads I've known who have done sod all work in class over 2 years and had me tearing my hair out have rocked up to the exam and got a B.

Dozer · 18/02/2011 18:40

Neither seems to be a core subject, so don't really understand the problem, nor do I think hoping a subject will require little work is a bad reason to choose, esp when grammars are hard work. Maybe better to focus on the wider issue with motivation?

BecauseImWorthIt · 18/02/2011 18:42

I find your remark about comprehensives very insulting.

Kez100 · 18/02/2011 19:10

He's not mentioned it before? Maybe he knew the disgusted reaction he would get.

It looks like the only practical/artsy type subject he is doing, so I don't blame him one little bit, especially if he has an aptitude for it. Grammar or Comp, most children are advised to take a non-academic subject.

I let my daughter pick her own GCSEs having armed her with her progress in each subject and the options evening talk.

FrumpyintheFrost · 18/02/2011 19:23

Thanks for the kind offer, but with his bad behaviour and lazyness, we don't want him at our Comprehensive

BTW my DS is taking both RS and Resistant Materials at GCSE but he is making a portable barbecue for festivals out of aluminium. We strongly advised him AGAINST taking Business Studies - have you seen the threads on here about BS?

IloveJudgeJudy · 18/02/2011 21:55

My DS is also taking RS and RM at GCSE. Neither is a soft option.

Pinguwings, I think you will find that RS is a subject that is accepted as hard at good universities!

OP, if your son is good at RS, then he should really take it at GCSE, but he should be able to take one "softer" subject, too.

We were also advised against business studies GCSE.

Original poster

Nomad2009 · 18/02/2011 22:03

No offence meant about comprehensive schools; just that we may have made the wrong choice sending him to his current school and he may be happier in a less academically demanding environment.
Anyway, he has made his choice now, so it will be Resistant Materials, I hope he will at least put some effort into it and enjoy it.
Re Business Studies: this was his choice, against my advice, but any advice coming from his parents is falling on deaf ears.
The reason I am so wound up about all this is that until last year he was keen on studying, was doing well and was still talking about going to university and what he would study. Now all that seems to have gone out of the window and this evening he announced he wants to join the army when he is 18...

OP posts:

BecauseImWorthIt · 18/02/2011 22:26

Still offensive.

Assuming that comprehensives are less academically demanding just because they have different entry requirements.

cory · 19/02/2011 09:56

At dd's school, RM is thought of as a demanding subject, not just woodwork but metal and plastic as well.

I've seen some of the stuff they've been doing and am delighted that my very academic dd has chosen something that will actually force her to work hard. So your ds may well be deceiving himself there- he may find himself working harder than he intended.

RE is a compulsory subject at dd's school but generally considered a bit of an easy ride.

Original poster

Nomad2009 · 19/02/2011 17:15

Thanks Cory and everybody else for your comments and helpful information. I found out that RE is also compulsory at DS's school, so he will be doing it any way as a short course.

OP posts:

Asinine · 19/02/2011 17:21

Perhaps Nomad has been watching Waterloo Road?

Kez100 · 19/02/2011 17:34

I think OP has fallen into the trap which, let's be honest, many parents do.

My experience of our local comprehensive is that they do provide an academically rigorous curriculum for the children who can cope with it. For the few that find academic subjects more difficult to access, then there are vocational options to enable them to have a split curriculum between the necessary academic work - english, maths, science etc and the rest of their study hours.

However, not one of them from top to bottom set is encouraged to be lazy. They are all encouraged to be the best they can be. Some of these children may be looked down on by the grammar children but, I'll tell you, they work like trojans and, in the real world, they will bite the ankles off a lazy child - irrespective of where they went to school.

seeker · 20/02/2011 05:29

If he's looking for an easy option, then he may get a shock when the RM coursework starts piling up!

Nellyegg · 20/02/2011 06:05

I've been reading up and

Nellyegg · 20/02/2011 06:07

Oops!

If your son has a genuine interest in the course, I would let him chose it. However, by the sounds, he's choosing it as it's a "soft" option. If that's the case, I would have a good talk with him about how he can't chose "soft" A levels if he wants to go to uni. It may be that a grammar might not be right for him if he lacks self-motivation.

seeker · 20/02/2011 06:11

My dd is ata grammar school, and the tec subjects are not seen as s soft option at all. A lot of writing, apart from anything else!

ErnestTheBavarian · 20/02/2011 06:40

I don't think the OP was at any point insinuating that a child attending a comprehensive school is automatically lazy, unmotivated or in any way inferior. surely she merely talked about how frustrated she was with her ds lack of effort and motivation, and saying he is not earning or at the moment deserving of a place in that school, and somebody else, who was more hard working would therefore be more deserving?

Don't understand what's offensive about that.

Anyway, op, I understand your concerns. I think if he is otherwise doing 9 or so 'acceptable' subjects, i'd let him do it. He needs to learn to m ake decisions and to live by them.

I was at a girls' grammar school, and our head teacher, a strident feminist really discouraged us from doing anything 'soft', Home Ec was truly scorned, we all had to be scientists and engineers.

I would have loved to have done something creative, envied the boys in the boys grammar who could do things like wood work and metal work.

I've always regretted my lack of creative education. Think that's where my okra urges spring from! If you really want him to do RE, is the another area you can persuade him to change?

I suggest you or dh take him out eg to a restaurant or bowling, just 1-2-1 for a treat and an adult chat in a friendly and neutral environment, show him you're listening to him, and go through the list, accept his choices, but make it clear they are his choices!

FrumpyintheFrost · 20/02/2011 11:43

ernestthebavarian Both you and the op are being offensive by insinuating that a Grammar school is "better" than a good comprehernsive.
If you look simply at the academic results of a typical selective school, compared with those of a top stream good comprehensive, they will be very similar.
I would argue that the comprehensive school teaches its students to value everyone and to recognise their achievements regardless of their academic ability.

After all, once you leave school, people very rarely ask you what grades you got in your exams. They are far more concerned with what you are like as a whole person.

mummytime · 20/02/2011 12:04

Is this the reason that so many parents moan about their sons. He is 13 or 14, can he not have any say in which subjects he studies? Are you going to micro-manage his career from now on.

Resistant materials is woodwork/metalwork + a bit of plastics, it involves project planning, working from designs, working from a design specification. All very useful skills. (On the other hand I could be quite disparaging about Business Studies).

BTW people get to Oxbridge etc. from Comprehensives, they are definitely not second choices. If you have a decent one near you they may not accept jst anyone joining.

webwiz · 20/02/2011 12:23

I think the point is not the subject per se its the throwing it in at the last minute without showing any previous interest in it at all. To be honest if my DS wanted to suddenly do Resistant Materials I'd be suspicious because he is rubbish at it and the D&T teachers were the only ones we didn't see at parents evening.

The OP's son appears to think it will be "easy" and is in for a bit of a shock if that is his reasoning for taking it. I would outline exactly what is involved in the subject and ask does he still want to do and yes micro-manage it because I would suspect the motives for choosing it were flawed.

ErnestTheBavarian · 20/02/2011 18:45

nonsense.

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