6th form for the smart and college for thick people

Hi,

I was always lead to believe that post GCSE`s that if you are smart/intelligent you went to/stayed at school and went to 6th form.

But if you were thick/stupid and can`t count to 2 you went to college.

Whats your view ?

Not changed my viewpoint no.

So your in favor of separation and elitism ok fair enough.

No but grammar schools are there for academic pupils (I hate the fact that being academic, rich, gifted in a certain subject, SEN etc all of the sudden makes you entitled to having a better education) who maybe can't afford to go to a private school, hence why I strongly support grammar schools. Removing grammar schools, private schools and selective schools and boarding schools isn't going to fix the issue of state schools having a below par education standard, we need to instead improve and fund state schools before we can even think of abolishing these kind of "elite" schools. We essentially need to make going to a private school, Selective school, grammar schools etc seem like a joke/waste of time/money like in Scandinavian countries because state schools over there are that good that going to an elite type of school is useless knowing that your local state school over there can provide the same quality of education as the private school can. Or be like France whereby going to a private school is not like €10K+ per year but more like €5K per year max I.e It's not hella unaffordable.

And so then, for subjects like GCSE Maths and Science how are you going to have mixed ability classes when there's are different tiers? What's your solution, how will it work? (for other subjects I support mixed ability, well not English if the school was like my old one and did jack all to accommodate for me). If teachers were willing to accommodate for pupils of different abilities in the same classroom then I'd maybe support mixed ability classes but sadly teachers aren't always willing to accommodate (e.g a grade 9 student would get the same piece of HW as a grade 5 student and failing student if they are in the same class, for GCSE french I was given the same homework as everyone else so I was wizzing through it (obviously A-level French is a much harder different story) same thing for English expect it was the exact opposite I was struggling). How are you going to make John who's doing GCSE higher Maths and Amy who's doing Foundation GCSE Maths being in the same class work? Will Amy have to learn irrelevant content and potentially fall behind, will John be held back and think "this Foundation Maths stuff is too easy" etc? Or do you think that there should be no higher or foundation tier papers but then again how would that work (that's not something I'm necessarily against btw but not really a fan of the fact that a core subject like English language has no foundation or higher tier and high grade boundaries (50% for a grade 5)). How can mixed ability classes work in subjects that have a higher tier and foundation tier paper? I can see how it can work in the rest but not Maths or science for this sole reason.


And why didn't you make it clearer from the beginning that you believe that the Idea of 6th form students being smart and college students being stupid is a stupid mentality to have from the beginning? Or more so that's it's the opposite, you have a grudge against 6th formers as opposed to college students because people are just reading the OP and disagreeing en masse. Don't see why 6th formers or college students need to be bashed, they are both equal at the end of the day.

Question : are you a student or teacher? Did you go to 6th form or college for long enough to be able to judge which one is factually better?

Blimey alot to digest in this post.

I just don`t agree with selective schools. Private schools i don`t have an issue with if a parent wants to spend £8k a term or however much it is then that's their decision.

As for English, Maths and Science scrap higher and lower papers let`s just have a middle or intermediate level for all. With your example of Maths well there is alot of stuff taught at GCSE level which is pretty useless or not needed in the real world i.e Pythagoras thrum, algebra etc but in school you are not taught how to budget, about mortgages etc so wouldn't it be better to teach stuff like that.

Also i would make some form of practical skill compulsory at GCSE level as we need practical skills in our life.

Also you have stated you are not practical well this could help you or you could know what failure feels like.

I am a former student, hopefully one day i can go back also as a slightly more mature student as such. I went to college, my older sister went to 6th form and i also have friends who went to 6th form.

A stereotype of UK education doesn't mean that it's true.
We have tons of public grammar schools in the UK, you'd assume they'd be good schools. The teachers effectively make it all "up to the student" in approach.

I know it seems mean but I agree with it. College is much more recreational and practical. I know people who are in College for about two days a week then just go to the Gym or have a job the rest of the week - it really is not that hard compared to A-Levels which require a lot more skill and focus and determination. If you are not skilled or motivated to better your prospects and education in an academic career then you are not fit for a Sixth Form.

I disagree. I go to a sixth form but some friends that decided to go to college achieved quite a lot hire than me in my GCSE's so I don't think it's for stupid people.

I disagree. I go to a sixth form but some friends that decided to go to college achieved quite a lot hire than me in my GCSE's so I don't think it's for stupid people.

Hi,

I was always lead to believe that post GCSE`s that if you are smart/intelligent you went to/stayed at school and went to 6th form.

But if you were thick/stupid and can`t count to 2 you went to college.

Whats your view ?

Blimey alot to digest in this post.

I just don`t agree with selective schools. Private schools i don`t have an issue with if a parent wants to spend £8k a term or however much it is then that's their decision.

As for English, Maths and Science scrap higher and lower papers let`s just have a middle or intermediate level for all. With your example of Maths well there is alot of stuff taught at GCSE level which is pretty useless or not needed in the real world i.e Pythagoras thrum, algebra etc but in school you are not taught how to budget, about mortgages etc so wouldn't it be better to teach stuff like that.

Also i would make some form of practical skill compulsory at GCSE level as we need practical skills in our life.

Also you have stated you are not practical well this could help you or you could know what failure feels like.

I am a former student, hopefully one day i can go back also as a slightly more mature student as such. I went to college, my older sister went to 6th form and i also have friends who went to 6th form.

English (both Literature and Language) isn't tiered, but I don't really agree with scrapping tiers for Science and Maths. I think it will end up either not challenging enough for high-achieving students or too challenging for low-achieving students.

The concepts you cite in Maths as "useless" are ironically extremely important (especially algebra) to any maths at higher levels, including finance. I don't think it's a good for a subject which is intended to be preparatory for higher level mathematics to replace core concepts with things like budgeting. It should be taught (maybe less so at GCSE age, and even less so for mortgaging), but as a different subject.

I think in general you're missing the point of GCSEs. They're there to give all adults in this country at least a certain level of academic ability, not necesarily to teach them about life.

I completely disagree. I know some very intelligent people who didn’t go to sixth form, and some who did.

I ended up at college mainly as I couldn’t do what I wanted at sixth form. Even if I did a levels, I wouldn’t have stayed at my secondary school sixth form. Awful place for me, and I’m glad I left.

I’m not a member of MENSA, but I would say I am quite smart. Just because I chose to value my sanity more doesn’t lessen my intelligence.

Some schools don’t have sixth forms either, and others don’t want to follow the ‘traditional’ a-levels route so end up at a college.

I`m just saying that some things aren't that relevant in the real world and could be changed.

"The real world" is difficult to define and depends on multiple factors unique to an individual. Pythagoras and Algebra for example are very relevant to the real world of an engineer.

You know what i mean by the real world.

I can guess your intention of the phrase, but I disagree with it. GCSEs are designed to keep options open, therefore it is important to give students a good foundation in English, Maths and Science. Even if not everything you learn is used every day, the foundation is useful in case you even need to use it.

But you need to cook, drive and preferably exercise every day also. These are either not compulsory or taught in school and are pretty important functions of well being alive.