Options: What are YOU taking?
By Amber Moss, Yasmin Kilani and Francis Murphy.
Every year the same question arises for the year nines; what are YOU taking? While for some this is the perfect opportunity to drop hated subjects others see it as a terrifying decision. Understandably, teachers stress how important Options are, but does that help?
“It’s slightly nerve wracking, knowing that if you make the wrong choice you can’t go back!” said Georgia Bracey in 9A. This is repeated many times. People are worried that they will pick the wrong thing, and most don’t even know what they want to do when they leave school.
Another problem is offending teachers. Despite all the evidence against it, they are actually real people with feelings, and they all want you to pick their subject.
“I think it's ridiculous how some teacher's manage to bribe you into taking your subjects,” said Frankie Sorrel, “Saying things like ‘If you drop it now you'll probably never be able to pick it up again’ pressured you into doing subjects you maybe didn't want to do.” At parents evening one teacher almost shouted at a girl who had decided not to pick her subject. “I didn’t feel supported enough when picking my options,” Sophie Irving told me.
Picking the options was hard. It must have been harder for the people who didn’t get the subjects they wanted. Textiles was cancelled because only two people wanted to continue with it.
On the other hand, some people found it easy. They realised that they had made a mistake and wanted to do something else.
“I was worried that I wouldn’t be allowed to change,” said Stephanie McVey, “But Miss Povall was okay about it.”
Miss Povall, Assistant Vice-Principal said that classes with too few students are often cancelled in every school, because the government won’t pay for classes with small numbers.
Many students feel that they would like to take more subjects. Miss Povall recommends that girls should further their skills through the Enrichment programme which offers everything from badminton and knitting to gardening and psychology.
Miss Povall, said: “We should ask the students what they want. We have the University Fair, Careers Advice and the Careers Library already in place as well as many subject teachers to help in the process.
“Students feeling worried about which options to take should talk to their teachers who specialise in that subject and are able to advise them.
“Miss Patterson is the careers coordinator and would be happy to help those who have any queries.”