Knitting
No Finished Objects to show today. The Boy's shawl is three-quarters' done and is looking good, though I say so myself.
My secret knitting for The Girl is also three-quarters' done, despite a major attack of chart dyslexia. If you are on Ravelry, you can see it over there.
Education
The Girl is home again, safe and sound, with news of a conditional offer for 6th Form College, should she choose to accept it. The decision will not be made yet. It is very complicated: so much to weigh up.
If she stays in Scotland, it will be that much harder to get into a University in England, which is almost certainly what she wants to do. Even in my day, quite lowly English Universities required a quiver full of A Grades from Scottish Higher students. But at least then, a handful of B's was enough to get you into a decent Scottish institution. Nowadays, the baseline criteria for e.g. Aberdeen for 2012 is 2 A's and 2 B's (Highers) or 3 B's (A-levels). No matter how you look at it, it has to be easier to get B's than A's, especially if you have two years to do it (Highers only take one year, A levels take 2).
I know this is not a popular point of view, but I really don't have much respect for the Scottish qualifications' framework. The 6th year at a Scottish school is so often a waste of time, when pupils resit their Highers from the year before, do some part-time work stacking shelves in a supermarket, and basically lose all interest in learning. No wonder only 11% of the pupils at my daughter's school get the qualifications required to go to University... and then only a handful of them actually choose to continue their studies. Her current teachers do not expect the kids to go to University, so most of them don't.
The College she visited in London has consistently been in the top 5% nationally for "value added", taking pupils with very few entry qualifications and exposing them to amazing educational experiences such as lectures from University Professors, visits to museums and galleries, residentials at Oxford , mentoring from professionals in business and industry: all with the aim to inspire them to engage with learning and see the point of education. Some of them get A's and A*s, but all of them benefit from enthusiastic, energetic and committed teachers.
But here's the catch: if The Girl goes to England, she will incur University tuition fees. Here in Scotland, the government covers the cost of tuition fees for Scottish and EU students... but NOT for students from the Rest of the UK (England, Northern Ireland or Wales). Insane. So if she moves to London for 6th form and then applies back to a Scottish University, she will be treated as "English" and have to pay approx £9000 a year. If she stays in Scotland and gets into to a Scottish University, her tuition will be free. If she stays in Scotland and goes to an English University, she will have to pay the £9000 a year.
Personally, I think it is worth it:. to broaden her horizons, to open up the possibility of living in the wider world. Too many of her current teachers have never left "home" and have such a parochial view of life. The Girl was born in London, goes there regularly, and although she is far from street-wise, she knows there is more excitement to be had in life than from the arrival of a Wetherspoons pub in the local market town. (Don't get me started on that one.)
The financial aspect will be dealt with. That is what student loans are for. And I have been putting money aside since my kids were 5 years old "for their education".
But leaving home is a big decision for a 15-going-on-16 year old girl. She would be going to stay with her dad, whose lifestyle is very different to mine. It would be a challenge for him too, having a teenaged girl around the house. And of course I would miss her.
But I know how frustrated she is by the lacklustre approach of her teachers, the narrowness of their world views. The expectation that the boys will go "into the oil" and the girls will marry them and have babies and live next door to their mothers. Really. Even in 2011.*
* ETA: I am feeling guilty that I wrote this bit - no teacher has ever said that to my daughter or me... it is more my interpretation of how things are in these parts, if you understand what I mean?
So watch this space. There may be changes ahead.
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13 comments:
I went away for university and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I left NYC to live in the mountains in Virginia. This city mouse was completely blown away and shaped by all the experiences living away at university provided. I went abroad, traveled the States and loved every bit of my university experiences.
Your girl will grow so much by going away. Man, I'm so excited for her. I still remember the thrill of packing up and driving away from home that first time. Good luck to her!
Wow, Roo! I am shocked by the parochial attitude of your local school. I know that sixteen is very young to leave home (even if it is for another home), but given what you say it sounds well worth it to me. Personally I think the university tuition fees are iniquitous, but that is indeed what student loans are for and there will be plenty of other young graduates in the same boat when she gets to that point.
I went to college rather than stay on at school, the decision was partly about courses, I didn't want to do A Levels (although I was perfectly capable of it) as I had had such a bad time with anxiety and panic over exams at GCSE time. Going to college was the best thing I ever did, I gained huge amounts of confidence and social skills, and got treated more like an equal by my tutors. But back then there weren't the financial issues that there are now.
I'm also shocked by the attitude of the Girl's school, that's really bad! Good luck with the decision making.
i´m grown up in the small world of provinzial GDR and be still angry that i was 21 when i had the possibillity to leave for the "big world". then it takes a few years to acclimate and afterwards i say it was to late for me that the wall came down..... i would "vote" for london for The Girl!
Having been in both US and UK education I have to say that I think the UK has it wrong making children specialise so early on in their lives. In the US you don't pick your major in University until after you've done your general knowledge courses. How is a 15 year old supposed to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives for goodness sake and earlier than that which subjects to 'drop' for GCSEs?
This sounds like a horrible decision to have to make and I know for me it would be a really emotional one. The idea of my kids not living with me is too hard to contemplate, but maybe that's just because they're still so young, it is something I may have to deal with in the future but I try not to think about it!
Well done on having saved for them. I wish I had something to put away, I will start one day. My 8 yo said he wanted to be an architect and my brain was horrified at how many years of fees we'd have to come up with for that!
I grew up in the highlands and was lucky enough to go to a school (the only one for 60 miles) that supported me and developed my abilities to enable me to attend university. I chose to study chemistry at university and while I loved my time there and came out with a degree I chose not to work in my field on graduation. I fully agree that many people waste their time in 6th year what I love about the Scottish system is that if you chose to you can get a wide range of qualifications so you have more flexibility in future life.
If you're considering 9k a year for England, consider also further afield. Paris, Berlin! Or, maybe Glasgow (a different world from parochial 3-hours-is-enough-unless-you're-posh Edinburgh) with a view to rolling on to London for Masters maybe. I've only glanced at this webpage but you have a wonderful dress sense, well done to you!
Very exciting time for all concerned, you, the Pa, the Girl and not just because of the money and choices... but I will be intending that all the decisions turn out to be the right ones and the funds appear to make it all possible, whatever "It" turns out to be... this is for the highest and best good of all concerned, and I'll be interested to hear the outcome!
What a conundrum to decided with the fees / no fees situation. I just dread my kids getting to this age ...maybe by then it will have changed or become so ridiculously expensive that uni won't be an option. London does sound as if it would offer her so much though for her A level years. It is an exciting age /stage to be at though. Good luck with the changes and decision-making.
PS: I ordered Romancing the Ordinary on amazon!
It must be the season for blog posts about university and college applications! I'm planning one shortly, carefully worded so as not to make my daughter cringe.
I think you and I have agreed about the lack of point of the Scottish curriculum in S1-3, via Christine's blog. The pace does pick up at my children's school, basically because we're paying for it, but it's a national disgrace that S6 can be such a wasteland. My daughter is working flat out for her S6, doing 3 Advanced Highers and a post grade 8 music diploma. Pretty much all of her year are, but this is a school where 25% get 5+ A grades at first sitting of Higher. As did she, but is applying to a couple of English universities which treat Highers as GCSEs and make offers on the basis of Advanced Higher. I feel particularly angry at the national situation because the expensive education my children are getting, which is stretching us financially, is much the same as the state school education I got in the north of Scotland in the 1970s. Fantastic teachers, teaching beyond the curriculum ('what curriculum?'), loads of extra curricular activites, high expectations of students.
It does sound as if the London option would be good. I have a friend whose son dropped out of school during S5, but then did a 2 year accelerated degree at a London university and is now forging ahead in his field.
What political correctness makes teachers not want their students to achieve the very best they can?
Linda - thank you for this! I had not realised that English Unis were now asking for Advanced Highers. These are very rarely taken at my daughter's school. My son was only allowed to enrol for one in this 6th year because he was told you had to get an A at Higher to be "allowed" to take the Advanced version. Looking back, I suspect this is rubbish. But you have alerted me to the need to know exactly what a typical English University requires because I am absolutely certain that I can't trust the current school to know.
And I don't think "political correctness" comes in to it at all. My daughter's teachers could never be accused of THAT, more's the pity! They are predominantly somewhat depressed elderly teachers, biding their time until retirement, in the school where they have always taught. And when they go they are not replaced, so classes are covered by other elderly "supply teachers", who have come back from retirement a couple of years down the line. It is no wonder that young teachers can't get jobs and end up leaving the profession!
Roo, have you checked and double checked with the Scottish student support agency and a Scottish HE Students Union about what qualifies as ordinarily resident in Scotland (not just the req'd number of yrs in the UK), to enable fees to be paid? As you've probably seen it can be pretty complex and I wonder whether your daughter's case would be cut and dried if she were to come back to her Scottish home for a period? I have no idea - it wasn't immediately obvious to me from looking at the awards agency website - but worth speaking to someone?
Hello anonymous! Thank you for this. The SAAS website is terrible. But I know from "contacts" that there is a loophole for English students who can claim to be EU residents rather than RUK if they spend more than 12 months "exercising their right to work in the EU" - so e.g. a year abroad working in Paris makes them "EU-based" and eligible for no fees in Scotland! You just have to take care that you do not appear to be moving from one country to another "for educational purposes" as that is agaisnt the rules!
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