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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.