For all parents with highschool children

[wj bear]

for sure mate, the more info i can gain the stronger my paper will be.

[Bushpig]

I agree with everything that Dickybird says & we've just gone through the pain of Year 12 (2006) with our son. I'm not sure who it was more painful for - but I do know that I could have handled it better. As parents we always want the best for our kids and it's very frustrating (because of your own past experience) when you see that with a bit of extra effort they could achieve their potential. I think that the most frustrating thing is that the younger generation discount the experience of age - but I suspect that's been happening since time immemorial.
I think that the one area where the Govt. (& I hate blaming the Govt because we vote the buggers in) has let the community down is the dismantling of the Tech schools etc during the 80's & 90's. When I was going through, there was the intermediate certificate (Year 10) and kids with an apptitude to the trades would head off in that direction after their certificate. Now everyone has to be a young Einstein and do well in Yr 12 - and that's wrong. At least these days those that have chosen the 'trades' path are getting well rewarded if they're any good.
Our lad scraped through Yr 12, got accepted into Uni & then decided to have a 'gap' year - best thing he could ever have done. After the jobs he's had this year he can't wait to get to Uni. If he'd gone straight from school I'll guarantee he'd have dropped out by now.
My 2 cents

Cheers ... Mark

[bikemat]

I went to a Catholic school that consistently does very well with OPs and found that there was ample education for both parents and students. There were several information nights, beginning in grade 10 (i think) and also in 11. The grading system was well explained and i think most understood it. The school did NOT discourage people from sitting QCS and didn't push non-academically minded students into a non-OP course.
I would say that yes there was a lot of emphasis on getting a good OP and i'd say probably too much. I got a 1, so i can say that without being bitterly biased. Too much i think, given that it's so easy to upgrade at uni - average marks at uni are worth an enormous amount more than good marks at school (don't get me started on revenue raising universities!!!!). This wasn't really common knowledge in grade 11 or 12, yet in my course, much less than half made it in straight from school, most did science for a year to upgrade.

Having said all that, school is basically there to give you a good OP and that's what teachers are aiming to do, so i understand why the focus is there. Yes, there's more to it than that, but you don't take 6 maths/science/english courses just to learn about life.

Personally i think leaving school in grade 10 or 11 shouldn't be so frowned upon,i have mates who basically wasted their last 2 years at school. They would've been far happier and more productive if they'd finished earlier.

Oh and my aunt would have taught you Chad