Ian
TS Team
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- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
There's certainly some very interesting points which have been raised in the last few posts.
Personally, I very much agree with Scott. For my A-Levels I took an Advanced Diploma in IT, Product Design, and Photography. I'd always wanted to take photography for GCSE, but I was beaten down with the whole "take something more worthwhile" argument. When I made the choices I was again often asked "Why are you taking photography? You've never done it before! It's useless! You'll get no where with it!". The thing is though, it was that choice which meant I totalled up enough UCAS points to get where I wanted in Uni! Funny that
GCSEs and A-Levels are important, don't get me wrong. But the whole "most important decisions of your life" thing is drastically blown out of proportion if you ask me, especially if you're considering moving through to the next level of education (I.E. GCSE to A-Level). At these times you are very much just making points and ticking boxes. You can always do like I did and pick something new up at a later point if you really want to do it. Especially if it's something which you do feel quite passionate and determined about.
The only time I'd say you are making a fairly large decision which can have an impact is University, and then the risk, in my opinion, is more financial. It's a big commitment, and it's worth thinking "Do I want to saddle myself with £10,000 odd debt for one year of Uni, to then drop out?". Now obviously, with fees rocketing it's perhaps more important than it used to be. However, you may again take the risk and find you love it! If you don't then you can still look at going into a job and paying off your loans that way. Remember that you don't pay back until you're earning over £21,000 if I remember rightly, and even then it comes out before you tend to see it (Can't miss what you don't have, and all that!).
As has also been said, education isn't for everyone. Personally, I doubt very much that I will do anything much higher than by current BSc, as I am starting to reach the point where education is becoming difficult (Probably also aided by working all through summer, which even though it was only low grade factory work, was incredibly fun. I absolutely loved it, and I'm pretty determined to try and get back again next year.), and I'm finding things like report writing pretty tedious.
Although it's often made out to be the opposite, there are plenty of decent jobs out there for those only with GCSEs who really just want to get out of education as quickly as possible and into work. That's fair enough! At the end of the day it's your choice, and your life to do what you please with it. That's my way of looking at these things anyway
Personally, I very much agree with Scott. For my A-Levels I took an Advanced Diploma in IT, Product Design, and Photography. I'd always wanted to take photography for GCSE, but I was beaten down with the whole "take something more worthwhile" argument. When I made the choices I was again often asked "Why are you taking photography? You've never done it before! It's useless! You'll get no where with it!". The thing is though, it was that choice which meant I totalled up enough UCAS points to get where I wanted in Uni! Funny that
GCSEs and A-Levels are important, don't get me wrong. But the whole "most important decisions of your life" thing is drastically blown out of proportion if you ask me, especially if you're considering moving through to the next level of education (I.E. GCSE to A-Level). At these times you are very much just making points and ticking boxes. You can always do like I did and pick something new up at a later point if you really want to do it. Especially if it's something which you do feel quite passionate and determined about.
The only time I'd say you are making a fairly large decision which can have an impact is University, and then the risk, in my opinion, is more financial. It's a big commitment, and it's worth thinking "Do I want to saddle myself with £10,000 odd debt for one year of Uni, to then drop out?". Now obviously, with fees rocketing it's perhaps more important than it used to be. However, you may again take the risk and find you love it! If you don't then you can still look at going into a job and paying off your loans that way. Remember that you don't pay back until you're earning over £21,000 if I remember rightly, and even then it comes out before you tend to see it (Can't miss what you don't have, and all that!).
As has also been said, education isn't for everyone. Personally, I doubt very much that I will do anything much higher than by current BSc, as I am starting to reach the point where education is becoming difficult (Probably also aided by working all through summer, which even though it was only low grade factory work, was incredibly fun. I absolutely loved it, and I'm pretty determined to try and get back again next year.), and I'm finding things like report writing pretty tedious.
Although it's often made out to be the opposite, there are plenty of decent jobs out there for those only with GCSEs who really just want to get out of education as quickly as possible and into work. That's fair enough! At the end of the day it's your choice, and your life to do what you please with it. That's my way of looking at these things anyway
