150k EDUCATION DD WANTS TO DO HAIR AND BEAUTY BTEC AT FE COLLEGE

[helenjackson2]

HI I AM NEW TO THIS FOURUM.DD CURRENTLY AT TOP GIRLS BOARDING SCHOOL SOUTH EAST.10GCSE GRADE A A* EXPECTED OXBRIDGE POTENTIAL.WANTS TO DO BTEC IN HAIR AND BEAUTY AT LOCAL FE COLLEGE WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP HER STUPID AND IDIOTIC IDEA.HELP

Poodle - if your DS for example decides that delivering pizza part time a couple of nights a week pays enough for him play video games and go drinking with mates while he lives at home, would you -

a) tell him that it is cool if this is what he wants to do with the next few years of his life.

b) light a fire under him and tell him to get a proper job so that he can independently support himself.

Various posters have suggested that the DD continues with A levels and try for a Saturday job at the local hairdressers.

That to me is a better idea than sitting back and waiting for the DD to be one year into a BTech, go into a work placement and realise that working at her local high street shop isn't the same as working at some Chelsea establishment frequented by WAGS.

My very bright nephew eschewed the academic route to train as a carpenter instead and started up his own firm immediately after college. 5 years later he is saying it was the best decision he ever made. It is obvious, talking to him, that he is being stretched and challenged, perhaps more so than by doing the obvious degree in modern languages or history that we might have expected him to do.

Let her do it. She may well find fulfillment and happiness. If she does not enjoy it she could apply for university but only if that is her wish. For all you know she could become the next hairdressing magnate or really enjoy working in a small, local salon. It is impossible to tell if this is really her choice (and it is a perfectly valid one) or if she is rebelling against you. Payment of £150k in school fees guarantees nothing.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it go to Oxbridge.

tiggy - a hairdresser and a Health Care Assistant aren't comparable either. One perms hair while the other .....

And no one is suggesting chucking out a child that decides to be a pizza delivery guy. I am merely making the point that to some parents a DD becoming a hairdresser is like a DC becoming a pizza delivery guy to another parent.

I don't understand why in one instance the parent gets supportive posts about a DS that is not fulfilling their potential while in another the parent is being called a snob because that parent feels that her DD is not fulfilling her full potential.

But delivering pizza is not the same as being a hairdresser I hear you say. Well, perhaps the pizza guy will go on to own his own franchise store and from there his own chain. Its just as likely an outcome as the one about how the DD can go on to own her own salon.

How many career options does a string of failed A-levels, or a failed degree open up to you? Speaking here as a university tutor who regularly has to comfort sobbing students whose failure can usually be put down to the fact that they had no interest in the course, no personal reason for wanting to do it, but applied because it was expected of them. Being bright and getting onto a course is no guarantee that you are going to do well on it. And if you don't do well, there is no particular advantage in having started it.

Also, no need to use capitals throughout. Reading it is like being shouted at!

"10GCSE GRADE A A* EXPECTED OXBRIDGE POTENTIAL"

Means absolutely nothing. Honestly. Few Oxford (or Cambridge) colleges are fooled by 10GSCEs. The currency is truly devalued.

"Potential" is worthless, without an offer.

Give her some leeway in this...

Actually, GCSE grades are thought to be the best predictors of performance at degree level at Oxbridge. Much more so than A-levels for some weird reason. So they are considered quite highly by Admissions officers.

Actually..., not at all

Most have been shown to be almost useless when trying for Oxbridge places.

I haven't read all the thread so apologies if I've missed something. I was very bright at school but not academically focused. I studied hair & beauty & have been in the industry for 21 years now. I am a manager for a beauty brand & I love my job.
If she is doing it to rebel,she'll be enjoying all the fuss.
It is not the career you should be ashamed of right now.

Let her do what she will enjoy and if that is a BTECH in haie and buety let her get on with it. Sit down and talk with her about her options and ask her if that is what she wants to do. Give her advice but don't make choces for her.

Pendeen, I don't think so. I have worked in admissions for Oxbridge colleges.

Especially in Maths, apparently - I've just checked the study. I've no idea why this should be so, and Maths is nowhere near my field. Anyway...none of this is helping the OP, so apologies for the diversion!

DS's girlfriend started in 6th form, decided it wasn't for her. Her parents, sensibly, said 'fine, get a job'. She worked for a couple of years and decided that she wanted more from life so went to college, got her A'levels and now has a good degree from a RG university. This was highly sensible of her parents- had they forced her to stay on the result would most likely have been mediocre A levels, mediocre university and mediocre degree. You can take a horse to water but.............. So it is silly to try.

I would insist she do the A Levels and tell her she can then choose to go to Uni or do the BTEC afterwards. This gives her more options in the future.

I see that you cross posted with me soupDreggon- but it was very lucky for my example that her parents didn't do that.

Not really. You can't tell what the result would have been. She could easily have performed well and had the same result

I'm with Soup . At one stage I decided I wanted to do the NNEB Nursery Nurse training but stayed on at school, hated lower Sixth but got good A levels in Upper 6th. By which time I applied to Uni instead. I'd have been awful working with children ! At 16 it is important to keep options open. She can still do hair and beauty after AS/A levels or IB, probably to a higher level.

Have some experience of FE colleges and frankly I think a former boarder from an elite school would struggle with the transition. Plenty of 6th forms also offer vocational subjects.

Firstly, absolutely nothing wrong with a career in hair and beauty if that is what you really want to do.

However, if you look at OPs post on page 5 it would seem that her DD wants to do this course purely as a show of loyalty towards some girls from the FE college that she met, who wanted to take a better beauty course but couldn't because they didn't have good enough GCSEs.

Sacrificing her own prospects on the altar of educational equality at this age, while worthy, seems to be to be a big mistake. If she genuinely wants to help change the system for the better she would do better to continue with A levels and degree, enter the system and try and improve it that way.

If the OP's DD is bright but is only taking this course to make a political point, I would think she will be bored stiff by the end of the first term.

DB wanted to leave school after gcse and follow a vocational training route. My parents banned him from doing so, he had a breakdown, quit college Anne it took him 2 years before he got a minimum wage job. So be careful how far you push your DC