The Kids Are (not) Alright? (A-Levels)

Member Name: rob_writer

Product:	A-Levels
Date:	16/07/01 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Qualificatons can only be a good thing

Disadvantages: Not for everyone

I don't know whether this category wants general comments on A-levels, parents experiences or guides to A-levels for parents. Who knows, maybe even all three, but what I'm going to do is give advice to parents from the viewpoint of someone who has just finished their A levels.

The first, and biggest difference between A levels and all the previous time at school is that A levels are optional. Your child doesn't have to be there anymore. There is a whole host of other options available to them; they can go in to the world of work, they can go to college to learn a specific skill, even join the army. This means there is no point in a child being forced by their parents to do A levels. You have to want to do A levels, because no longer will your school or college pressure you to do the work. If you can't be bothered to do the work, then quite frankly, your teachers won't be willing to teach you. That doesn't mean that should you forget your homework one day that you'll get kicked out, but if you never do any work and fail your tests and exams, then the teacher will simply kick you off that particular course. Nice, I know, but there?s no point in wasting peoples time.

So basically, what I'm saying is don't force your child to stay at school and do A levels. I would imagine that the vast majority of parents would want their child to continue in education, but the reality is that not everyone wants to. It doesn't really matter how clever your child is, as there are now a range of course on offer, but the fact remains that if they want to be somewhere else, then they should be somewhere else. It may indeed turn out that your child regrets not going back to school, but it isn't a good idea to force the issue, at 16 you are old enough to make your own decision.

Next up, you must realise that A levels are hard. I did mine before they introduced the new AS level system which should make the transition easi
er, but whatever they do A levels will not be easy. So don't expect your child to get A's. Some people have it in them, others don't. There are people who can do no work and get an A, others can work their fingers to the bone for 2 years and get an E. That's not to say that hard work can't improve grades, but don't expect miracles.

If your child doesn't do too well in an exam then try not to be angry. We know when we've done badly and the last thing we need is our parents shouting at us. And going back to the last point about grades, just because your child happens to get a D doesn't mean it's bad. If they were predicted an E by their teachers then they have done very well.

It's also a good idea to understand the courses your children are doing. With lots of modules and coursework flying around it can get very confusing, and I can't tell you the amount of times my parents enquired as to what a particular exam was worth, or if it counted towards my final grade.

Next up, you have to remember that at the ages of 16, 17 and 18 your child is now a young adult, and we all know the social lives that young adults have!! You've got cars, going out and girl/boyfriends. The chances are that school won't be the most important thing in your child?s life, but you must try to keep a balance between the two. Too much fun and obviously the school work will suffer, but forcing your child to stay in permanently and they will just resent you. There's a similar situation with working too. Unless you're really nice parents your child is going to have to work to finance his or her social life. To be honest, this can be a bigger problem than the actual social life. Working 5 hours on a Saturday isn't going to do anyone any harm, but once you start working 15+ hours per week it is certainly going to affect school work. Too many people have said they were unable to do something because they are
working, and although it probably encourages good organisation it isn't an ideal situation. You can't go to school from 9am 'till 4pm everyday, have a couple of hours homework to do and then work 20 hours on top of that. Something is going to have to give, and it's usually the school work.

With all this it would be very easy for a parent to get overly involved with their child?s life. Yes, it is good to encourage people to do the best thing but at the end of the day you can't control you child?s life. Revision is a good example. When it came to GCSE's you probably had to badger your child to revise and this was perfectly acceptable, but now that it's A levels I really don't think it's up to the parents to make their children revise.
By the age of 18 you're old enough to know what you have to do, and interfering parents will just make things worse. If I want to revise I will, but if I'm not in the mood then I just sit there and think of other things. You can't be forced to revise.

I guess that my overall advice to parents is not to get too involved in a pushy way. It's up to the people doing the A levels to do the work, and most of the time the work does get done. This isn't to say you shouldn't be involved at all, because if your child starts going out and getting drunk every night or working 40 hours a week then they do need a bit of help! All I'm saying is don't become the evil dictator parents!

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