High School in Britain equals exams exams exams
Congratulations to all the kids who got the GSCE and A level results they worked so hard for. I have a son who is on the verge of entering all these exam ‘phases’ in high school. It seems like such a confusing and serious exam schedule! It also seems like they spend all their high school years just studying for these exams.
What does GSCE and A level even mean? And what is the point of them? We have a friend whose 13 year old daughter studied so hard every day for months just to get a good grade on her GSCE exams. The few days before the exam results came out, she was so stressed she couldn’t do anything apart from be stressed. She’s 13! It made me feel very sorry for her. I have to say, I just don’t get it. Why? What’s the point? High School should be fun, educational of course and cover a broad range of subjects. High school here seems to make kids choose a very narrow pathway with no scope to try different things or have fun or excel in different ways other than getting good exam results. It’s unbelievable to me that kids don’t have to take English and Math during their final two years of high school and that they have to choose what they want to major in (their options) at University before they even get there. That’s crazy. I don’t like it! They are forced to make decisions about their future at such a young age and their education becomes narrower and narrower once they hit 11 and 12 years of age. However, with a son nearly at this stage and going to a British state school, there is not a lot I can do about it.
So what are the other options? International schools and some private and boarding schools in the UK offer the International Baccalaureate curriculum which sounds like a more rounded education. Their mission statement: The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
It sounds great, it sounds like hard work, and from what I’ve heard from parents whose children go to schools that offer IB, the system makes much more sense than the British State school curriculum that seems to be narrowly focused, limiting and exam centered.
In reality, for us, IB isn’t available in any of the State schools here in Worthing where my son is set to go to high school. Not even in any of the private schools here either (although no idea how we would ever afford this even if there was a private school here offering IB). It frustrates me to think he will be going into a school system that I don’t understand and don’t like. My husband of course does not share my frustration and doesn’t understand why I’m so worried.
Does anyone else have any concerns about this? What have you done, if anything? And am I right to even worry in the first place?
YES! Exactly. I went through the GCSE/A-Level/University thing in the UK and didn’t know any better, but then I met my husband who went to high school and college in the U.S. and it seems like a much more sensible system. Kids in the UK can leave school at 16 if they want to, but GCSEs don’t get you much. And I wanted to take both History and French A-Level but the classes were held at the same time so I couldn’t, which meant I couldn’t take the History/French double-major at university. It is so limited. I couldn’t believe it when I was a teaching assistant in grad school in the U.S. – the sheer range of subjects college kids get to take, and they have a full schedule of classes. I had about 2-4 hours of contact time a week at university in the UK and now it is the same price as a U.S. education where kids get much more choice and contact time. I agree, this is crazy. When we move back to the UK my husband is not thrilled about sending our son through the public school system, but we won’t be able to afford private (the only way you can get away from the national curriculum). When I think about what I learned in high school the answer is “not much” it was so geared towards exams and what the “examiner” wanted you to know and write that it was incredibly boring and as you say stressful, with no freedom for individual thought. the teachers were always stressed too, trying to teach to the exam and with no time to explore the subjects or books they thought were interesting.
i wouldn’t worry too much though. GCSEs get you to A-Level and A-Levels get you to university. There is a problem if you like both science and liberal arts subjects as you can only take three A-levels (or maybe four?) but just encourage your son to choose subjects he enjoys and that are important for GCSE so he will have the choice later on, and then for A-Level make sure the subjects are ones he would like to study at university. I think college degrees in the US and the UK are worth about the same, and in both countries an undergraduate degree is worth less than it used to be. So you can worry, but don’t worry too much because if your son is on the uni-track he will get there, I agree that A-Levels seem limiting, but from a British view of the U.S, system, I also don’t really understand what people have achieved when they get a high school diploma. Does that mean they got above a 2.5 GPA for all those years, does GPA matter in high school? And my husband said they only had to take History class for one semester in high school (or something) which doesn’t seem like much. Maybe you only really understand the system you were schooled in yourself? But if your son is growing up in the UK he will see these exams as normal, if stressful, just like all the other British kids.
Hi Alex,
thanks so much for your two posts. It’s great to hear your experience and really calms me to know that all should be OK in the end! However it makes me so angry to hear that you couldn’t take both French and History so that meant you couldn’t do both those subjects at University. It is CRAZY! I still don’t like the system but I know I have to hide my negativity towards it from my son so I can give him the support he will surely need. I am so excited for him as he enters this phase in his young life – more independence and having fun with his friends. But I just worry so much that he won’t know what he wants to do at University and yet he will have to decide so early. Thanks again for posting. Hopefully it will help others too who read my blog.
I know next to nothing about the British exam system but my US (public) high school was one of the first in the US to have the IB program (we had lots of diplomats’ kids hence the need). I can’t compare it to AP because we didn’t have AP but it was an extremely writing intensive program that really made you think and had an amazing international focus (the American History class was history of the Americas – ie North and South American History not just US history). It prepared me well for R-MWC. So its a great program if you can find it in a British high school. Its much more common in US high schools now. And elementary and middle schools – those didn’t exist when I was young.
Thanks for your comments Jen. That sounds really great. I had no idea! There was no IB in my high school in the States. IB is available in London international and American schools. We will be applying for his place at high school this school year but we really only have two choices and they are both British State schools.
You’ll make the right decision so don’t worry. At least you have choices! Does seem quite young from an American perspective though!
Thanks Jen, I’m hoping I’m worrying for no reason, but we’ll just have to see. I am keen on sending them to the US for college if at all possible – it all depends on where we want to be when they are that old!
[…] what she wants to study and the British system will be an advantage for her. But I worry about my son. He enjoys school but doesn’t work as hard as he could. He is not passionate about any […]