Dropping History in year 9? - year 8 options/GCSE choices.

[wetlaurel]

We are currently going through the year 8 options process. My DD is adamant that she wants to drop History. She says she likes the subject but hates the "method" - e.g. PEEL paragraphs etc. She is very bright, is on the G&T register and got very very high CAT scores. I hate the fact that she could potentially not study History beyond the age of 12 (she is not 13 until August). I feel History gives us such an understanding of our context, our world, society, politics etc that is should be compulsory.

As she is bright I also worry that it would harm her future with regard to University entry if History was missing. If she drops it her GCSEs in Year 10 will likely be: Maths, English, Triple Science, Geog, German, Art and Drama - is this combo heavy weight enough for a good Uni? She doesn't really have strong career ideas yet (after all she is only 12) but has shown interest in Graphic Design and Architecture so far. She is v good at science and art/creative stuff.

[Hibat]

Don't know what is it with PEE paragraphs in History, dd is struggling with them too - despite being in the top set for English and her English teacher telling me she is strong in all areas of English, she really struggles with PEE in History, even though she enjoys it very much, it's by far her weakest subject; actually it's her only weak subject. I wonder what has gone wrong.

[wol1968]

I never did History O-level (showing my age ) because there wasn't room for it and the rest of the subjects I did. I reluctantly dropped it on the grounds that it would be easier to take up again later at some level than, say, Physics which requires far more actual teaching (as opposed to reading/background knowledge) in its early stages. I think providing the GCSEs aren't too skewed towards particular kinds of subject (which it doesn't seem like they will be as most decent schools don't allow it), and your DD is careful about picking the right A-levels, there shouldn't be too much of an issue with dropping History.

[Namehanger]

Ds1 was going to drop History. I persuaded him to do it other than business studies and it is now his favourite GCSE.

I am an ex history graduate, so I argued quite strongly.

[BackforGood]

Yes, in drama everyone was individually marked. But if you are in a group who can't be bothered, don't turn up for rehearsals or don't learn their lines it will impact your mark

Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[Tigerblue]

Part of it depends on what they want to do in the future. My DD had no idea when she decided on her options but dropped history as she had no interest in it. She choose to do geography and ethics and is on course to get a really good grade - I think this is partly down to her interest and hard work, rather than the fact she's bright.

She's starting to get ideas of what she'd like to do in the future now and both geography and ethics are under consideration for A level and more likely to be of benefit in the things she's interested in careerwise.

[senua]

If she is G&T and they are doing GCSEs over three years, then her workload shouldn't be a struggle. Can you make a bargain that she can drop History at school if she keeps it up outside - watches the complete Simon Schama, reads the complete Churchill, visits museums, investigates the history of architecture, etc.
She will miss out on historical methods - how to evaluate documents for bias, how to put things in context, etc - but doing RS instead would teach her some of those skills {there is a lot of 'one the one hand this, but on the other hand that'}.
Has she spoken to the teachers about it? Can they persuade her that KS4 is a bit more interesting and stretching than KS3.

[Muskey]

I think history is very important but I don't think at university level people are looking for history particularly I think they are looking for a well balanced selection.

If you could talk her round I would advise her to drop drama or art but at the end of the day it's her choice and there is nothing worse than studying a topic that you hate.

[Balletgirlmum]

Yes, in drama everyone was individually marked. But if you are in a group who can't be bothered, don't turn up for rehearsals or don't learn their lines it will impact your mark.

But the portfolio should lesson the impact.

[Balletgirlmum]

Auto correct had a field day on my last post!

[Alonglongway]

Triple science, art and drama likely to be too much. Dd2 in year 11 now and she and most of her friends have ended up paring down.

I persuaded her to do history and while she has enjoyed it, I've been surprised at the curriculum - as others have commented, not the broad base you might have expected.

[HildaFlorence]

Baffled as to why you would write an essay any other way , my ds has been taught this since primary , they just call it writing an essay .Surely you have to do this in all subjects

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Point, evidence, explain - dunno what the L is though!

[AtiaoftheJulii]

My two were always told that their mark was solely on their own performance, not some sort of average across the group.

And gcse drama was/is very different from their youth theatre group!

[HildaFlorence]

What is PEEL by the way?

[HildaFlorence]

My ds is year 9 , whole family are history buffs so he has chosen history ,the syllabus is changing a lot and having spoken to his teacher and having two older ds who have done history it will be much more like my history O level again and much less like their GCSE .His new syllabus sounds much more challenging .

Choosing options at this stage is ridiculous I think , but I don't history is essential for a good university etc

[Balletgirlmum]

Backforgood - the new drama disc jeans students are far less reliant on iTunes in their group. It's 40% written exam now only 30% performance then the last 30% is an individual portfolio/evaluation

[Balletgirlmum]

PEE is being taught to my children in all their essay based subjects.

I don't agree with kids dropping subjects like history at the end of year 8 but for GCSE as long as there is at least one humanities subject it's fine.

I also think two arts subjects are fine but art & drama are two notorious subjects for being very time consuming with practical/coursework.

Dd is taking Maths, English, triple science, French, RS & Music

[BackforGood]

I think RE is an excellent choice and offers a lot of similar skills to History.
If she's involved with a theatre group outside of school then I don't think GCSE drama will add much tbh. Her grade will also be dependent on others in her group, whereas for RE or History it will be dependent on her.

[Noodledoodledoo]

Based on my GCSE History I would disagree with it being general knowledge - I loved History but we covered the history of medicine (still done today) the history of the American Indians and the English/Irish situation. So covered some general knowledge but I am hugely lacking in some areas.

My British history is very poor, my WW1 history was pretty non exsistant, and WW2 was mainly Primary and KS3 level.

Geography is just as important, if different, general knowledge as well.

[superram]

Some 'not all' 6th forms would allow her to do a level history at a level without a GCSE. Many need the kids due to finding and if she got good grades they may risk it.

[wetlaurel]

Thanks all.

Yep 10 GCSEs as 2 English.

Her school ends KS3 at the end of year 8, god knows why. Its a comp not a fast track grammar or anything. It is so frustrating that it is not compulsory until at least the end of year 9.

I won't force her to do History as I can see it won't end well. Just very SAD. But as Atiaofthejulii points out there are other ways of giving 'context' and political understanding.

She is slightly more keen to do RS GCSE - presumably this would be "better" than Drama? (She does Drama outside school by the way)

[Chapsie]

I thought history was compulsory until the end of key stage 3 (end yr 9)? Very surprised she is allowed to stop it at the end of year 8

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Two of mine have done/are doing drama gcse and they haven't had much extra work to do. The odd trip to see a play, a couple of performances - rehearsals seem to be managed within lesson time mostly.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Judging by DD1's drama teacher's description of GCSE, there will be plenty of similarly formulaic essay writing in drama. My main concern would be the coursework load in taking both art and drama, but that's a different issue. If those are the subject she's actually keen to do, it looks like a reasonable spread and might be better than taking a subject she doesn't want to do and doing badly in it (because she's a teenager that doesn't want to work on something she doesn't want to do!)

[AtiaoftheJulii]

It's probably ten gcse's, I assume two English?

Studying history won't necessarily give you much understanding of our context - gcse is about quite narrow topics. My dd did gcse and is now doing A level - she has very good understanding of the periods and topics she's studied, but can be hazy on how everything joins together! There are plenty of other ways to get a good overview.