What should be offered as a VCE subject but isnt?

[bubble sunglasses]

 
 Gender Studies
 Critical Thinking/Logic
 Creative Writing

[cara.mel]

They should have more stuff in lower years

Eg, whenever I need to put a cheque in the bank I go to my mum looking all confused how to fill out the form and she said they used to teach that in year 9 or 10 20 years ago. I'd be stuffed if I owned the actual check writing medium


Oh, and allow space for more vce subjects so I could do like 4-5 more . But I suppose thats more of a case of school not looking after me more than anything else *grumbles*

[memka]

They should have more stuff in lower years

Eg, whenever I need to put a cheque in the bank I go to my mum looking all confused how to fill out the form and she said they used to teach that in year 9 or 10 20 years ago. I'd be stuffed if I owned the actual check writing medium

I had compulsory Middle School Commerce in Yr 9. We learnt all about cheques, budgetting, job applications etc.
But I've forgotten almost everything 

I wish you could do around 10 vce subjects. They's heaps of subjects I would have liked to done but didn't have room for.

[costargh]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

[brendan]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

yup

[jess3254]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

My school let me do 2 unit 1/2s (psychology, biology) and 1 unit 3/4 in year 10 (health and human dev.) But I would've loved to do 3/4 psychology instead but my school wouldn't let me, although retrospectively I wouldn't have done fantastically in it.

It'd be nice if there weren't as many restrictions though, I agree. I found year 10 incredibly boring.

[brendan]

Gender Studies

That is?

[costargh]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

My school let me do 2 unit 1/2s (psychology, biology) and 1 unit 3/4 in year 10 (health and human dev.) But I would've loved to do 3/4 psychology instead but my school wouldn't let me, although retrospectively I wouldn't have done fantastically in it.

It'd be nice if there weren't as many restrictions though, I agree. I found year 10 incredibly boring.

That sounds awesome. I did two 1/2's in year 10 but still would have liked to do a 3/4 sequence.

It's quite odd that schools can impose their own set of rules on the VCE course as they please.
Ie. You must complete a minimum of 4 subjects (inc. English) to get an ENTER but even though I completed two last year, I have to do 5 more this year = grand total of 7.

To me the VCE and schools reluctance to make individual catered for policies for its students reeks of 'one size fits all' policy .

/end rant

[cara.mel]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

Same, I was told VCE physics and chem are just way too hard to do units 3/4 in year 11. Clearly, I would have struggled so much in those.
I didnt really know about vce in year 10 to even consider doing subjects back then But chem in year 10 would be nice, open up moar subject slotz

[ganges]

Honestly i dont see the point of doing so many 3/4 units way before yr 12, 1 is good, i am not sure about 2 though.
 this is because most of us dont have the best work ethic and maturity in the years leading upto year 12 to succedd in 3/4 subjects, its better to consolidate thorougly on ur 1 and 2s in yr 11 b4 going full on in yr 12.

[costargh]

I agree that the majority of students will fit that stereotype ganges, but for many students, particularly the ones who have excelled in previous years, I think their should be broader options for them to study ahead instead of get straight A+'s through Year 9 and 10.

In saying that, I think my school was pretty good with me though. I did Year 7 and 8 maths in Year 7 and Year 9 maths in year 8 onwards (goes to show that early mathematical ability doesnt always equal VCE Methods success).
What I don't understand is that my school only offers an advanced program like that for Maths, why not English? or Commerce subjects?

Why was I able to complete Methods 3/4 in Year 11 with C's in 1/2 when I was getting A+'s for all my other subjects? Why was I not given the opportunity to do say Legal 3/4 and Business 3/4?

This is just an example... and if I fail, then who is to blame? Myself of course. Its my VCE and I think that schools that become too worried about the perception of 'their schools' performance make the VCE more about the school rather than the student, and thats just wrong.
This coming from the student who taught his Year 10 commerce class on the board because the teacher didn't understand most of the course (she was subsequently fired at the end of the year)

[Glockmeister]

Does anyone else wish that schools had less power over your VCE? ie. If I wanted to do two 3/4's in Year 10, two in Year 11 and 4 in year 12 that they should not be able to tell me how to complete my VCE? (And I really don't know of any school that would allow you to do this so it's not just case of moving schools).

Year 9 and 10 was a waste of my time...

Same, I was told VCE physics and chem are just way too hard to do units 3/4 in year 11. Clearly, I would have struggled so much in those.
I didnt really know about vce in year 10 to even consider doing subjects back then But chem in year 10 would be nice, open up moar subject slotz

One of my friends did chem in year 11 and got a 38 for it.

[chid]

I did chem 3/4 last year and found it okay. In year 10 I wanted to do methods 1/2 but discovered that it was against school policy... (even though we did 1/2 methods informally in advanced maths)

Since I really enjoyed chem, I was allowed to do 1/2 chem in year 10. At the time I was interested in doing an additional 1/2 as well, but my school discouraged me from taking it up.

In hindsight, I feel doing an extra 3/4 in year 11 would have been a positive experience for me, and one that would not have impacted on my performance in chem. Last year I chanelled too much of my time into chem, to the extent that I doubt the last 10 practice exams I did made any difference. Doing an extra 3/4 would have been a better option for me I think.

I agree with costa, most schools seem to adopt a 'one-size fits all' approach.

[ninwa]

Same, I was told VCE physics and chem are just way too hard to do units 3/4 in year 11. Clearly, I would have struggled so much in those.

Clearly, our school is an idiot.

I don't think there's any reason why people shouldn't be allowed to do at least one 3/4 in year 10, especially if they have a special interest in it. I was allowed to do music 3/4 in year 10 ...

Honestly i dont see the point of doing so many 3/4 units way before yr 12, 1 is good, i am not sure about 2 though.
 this is because most of us dont have the best work ethic and maturity in the years leading upto year 12 to succedd in 3/4 subjects, its better to consolidate thorougly on ur 1 and 2s in yr 11 b4 going full on in yr 12.

... and music turned out to be my best subject study-score-wise out of all the subjects I did.

Considering that music performance is one of those subjects where maturity is extremely important, I'd have to say that this "year 10s aren't mature enough" argument is rubbish.

[cara.mel]

Well school in general thought I wasn't that good, only once getting that 'general academic excellence we believe you are in top 6 in year level' or whatever. Plus, I doubt the head of campus + head of senior school knew who I was before december 17th last year.

I believe if I had done physics and chem earlier I would have gotten 2 50s instead of 49 + 50 because then it *might* have been a challenge therefore I *might* have tried in them, plus moar subject slots