Options year 9/10 not happy with dd’s Choices.

[Lovemusic33]

Dd is in year 9 and will be choosing her options in a few months, school have been preparing them and we have a meeting next week to discus what the options are.

Dd is pretty bright and in top classes for most subjects but loves English and history.

She has decided to chose history, German, ICT and business studies (as well as maths, English and science). The problem I have is she has the option of taking individual sciences instead of the business studies, Dd says she doesn’t like science and want to take the combined paper. Today Dd got her resaults from a science test and came 2nd in the year but still she says ‘I don’t like science’. I know I can’t chose a career for Dd but the fact she’s good at maths, ICT and science could get her into engineering but she has this idea in her head that she will make her living from being a author.

The school have told the children to chose what they would like to do and not to be influenced by others so Dd digging her heals in about the science option and wants to do business studies.

I’m going to just have to let her chose aren’t I? I know I probably am BU in wanting to chose for her.

Thank you, I will ask questions at the meeting next week regarding ICT.

Please do, ICT is no longer available for GCSE.

It’s really tricky for the bright all-rounder. Because they ‘can’ do a subject and do well in it they’re made to feel they should. But even all-rounders generally have a particular aptitude/interest in one or two directions. I think it’s better if they recognise that sooner rather than later to be honest.

I was an all-rounder, and I genuinely didn’t know which way I leaned after my GCSEs (had to do the full range anyway - literally one option for GCSE!). I could have taken any subjects for A Level. Even at uni I ended up doing ‘combined arts’ because I couldn’t decide so I got to do 3 subjects! After the first year I realised my real interest was History but I wish I’d known earlier as I didn’t choose the best A Levels for me in hindsight.

My siblings were more humanities orientated and they did much better in their A Levels than me because they knew whar they enjoyed.

They’ve got well paid interesting jobs too so nothing wrong with humanities!

I too would echo caution about engineering. This is an academic discipline and you need to be a good communicator because it is collaborative. You cannot fall back on it and do it if you have no interest in it.

GCSEs are meant to be broad. My DD did triple science GCSE but did MFLs at university and then law. However she would have been perfectly well served with the double but she was top set and they did triple. So she stayed in top set. None of this made any difference to her A level choices or her career.

Thank you for all your views and advice. She has always been a really big fan of English and decided a couple years ago that she would like to do English literature A level and then go on to do it at uni. She also has the mad idea that she will make her fortune writing books, she is a good writer but most of the novels she has written have been based on things she has read in other books, her imagination isn’t that great due to having Aspergers and seeing everything black and white. I have suggested journalism but she’s not interested. She has a interest in politics (English and American) and enjoys history.

If she goes down the English and history route for gcse and a level what sort of job will she be looking at when she leaves uni?

I’m not going to force anything on her, she got to chose what school she went too and generally she makes most choices herself.

I think you are overthinking things! She could do any job at all with any GCSEs really! And A levels in history and English are amongst the most popular A levels : English and history degrees exist in virtually every HE establishment : thousands of doors are open to anyone with those subjects.

Even with A levels in STEM subjects the only options are scientific : plenty of authors and journalists have maths and science degrees.

The world isn't so black and white.

And what's childhood if not for mad ideas ?!

She sounds like she's got more idea where she's headed than my year 10 aspie. Who also seems headed for humanities despite being very good at maths and science. Mine decided to do triple science because it seemed to be what all the academic kids at her school do therefore wrong to drop one (doing single sciences rather than combined); I'd been supportive of her considering dropping biology on the basis that we could fill her in on the subject very easily at home.

Definitely ask questions at school and make sure you get the teachers' perspective on her choices. Tell her you need to understand what she's doing in order to support her properly. And that you are only doing what other parents do. Good luck!

We are offering ICT to KS4 as a BTEC in Digital Applications - it could be that. We are also offering GCSE Computer Science however.

Her choosing her GCSE options has nothing to do with you, so you "going to have to let her choose" is a moot point.

I was amazing at German but took French. Leave your daughter make her own decisions, she will change by the time college and uni rolls around.

I think, to be fair, that mist parents should guide young people so they do not close down options that they ayregret later. Not all young people are sensible and certainly have insufficient experience of the world to make an informed decision.That's why parents and teeachers are invaluable.

There are very few jobs in journalism, by the way.

Spoke to dd and it is computer science not ICT.

With Comp Sci and Maths (and potentially physics, if she wants to do that at A level) she could still be an engineer - computing or electrical/electronic, possibly others). So your ideas aren't closed off. And she can choose later.

Leave her to choose subjects she wants to do for the rest. Because an unhappy teen can have a difficult time.