|
|
Post by garry on Aug 10, 2021 8:50:07 GMT
My eldest got 4 A*s and Cambridge is confirmed. Very proud dad!!  |
|
|
|
Post by PetrolEd on Aug 10, 2021 8:58:36 GMT
Good for them. Obviously a lot of hard work has gone into that result. A shame I was never an academic when I was younger as certainly a decent degree from Cambridge should open some doors.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 10, 2021 11:33:22 GMT
For god's sake don't let him click decline! Well done to him, cue jokes about; "must take after his mum etc etc.  |
|
|
|
Post by Roadrunner on Aug 10, 2021 11:55:18 GMT
Outstanding! Clearly the result of lots of hard work.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Aug 10, 2021 12:37:55 GMT
Well done indeed. Is it now Dad's job to fund University or is that the job of the student loan? I only ask because we are having a similar discussion in our house!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2021 13:07:58 GMT
Congratulations on a tough job done well. Proud as no doubt.
|
|
|
|
Post by garry on Aug 10, 2021 13:13:37 GMT
For god's sake don't let him click decline! That button was panicking me! |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 10, 2021 13:36:20 GMT
For god's sake don't let him click decline! That button was panicking me! Maybe that was the common sense/practical assessment? Congratulations, really impressive results! |
|
|
|
Post by garry on Aug 10, 2021 13:52:45 GMT
Well done indeed. Is it now Dad's job to fund University or is that the job of the student loan? I only ask because we are having a similar discussion in our house! I’m going to pay for him. I’d like to get him to his first job debt free. The fun for me is that I’ve got two more following in quick succession! I’ve planned for it, but it’s going to be expensive. |
|
|
|
Post by franki68 on Aug 10, 2021 14:06:51 GMT
Well done indeed. Is it now Dad's job to fund University or is that the job of the student loan? I only ask because we are having a similar discussion in our house! I’m going to pay for him. I’d like to get him to his first job debt free. The fun for me is that I’ve got two more following in quick succession! I’ve planned for it, but it’s going to be expensive. well done to him.Is it different now ? they used to make you an offer which was a token thing 'get 2 e's' . |
|
|
|
Post by Blarno on Aug 10, 2021 15:19:53 GMT
I didn't do A Levels, as none of my local colleges offered Engineering at that level, so I did a BTEC ND. I don't even remember how or when I received my results. I don't even remember applying for university. I was drinking a lot in 1998 though.
Congrats on 4 A*s though, that's some going.
|
|
|
|
Post by garry on Aug 11, 2021 7:13:56 GMT
I’m going to pay for him. I’d like to get him to his first job debt free. The fun for me is that I’ve got two more following in quick succession! I’ve planned for it, but it’s going to be expensive. well done to him.Is it different now ? they used to make you an offer which was a token thing 'get 2 e's' . It was like that in my day too. Not now. His offer was two A*’s and one A. |
|
|
|
Post by PG on Aug 11, 2021 12:41:55 GMT
Congratulations on the results and the place at Cambridge.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alex on Aug 12, 2021 11:19:18 GMT
Mightily impressive to get those results and congratulations to them. Hearty congratulations that he has a Dad who can pay for it. My fees were based on my parents income which were high enough that I was charged the full amount but low enough they couldn't afford to give me anything. At least the fees were only a grand a year when I went.
I spent my three years working at Spoons during term time and taking on lots of temp jobs during the holidays but I had a lot of fun doing that and still have a number of friends from my days working at the pub although I do wonder if I'd spent less time working and more time studying I might have achieve a better end result than my Desmond!
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 12, 2021 13:41:16 GMT
One thing these last 18 months have proven is that the value of teachers is vastly overrated. Last year's A level pupils had the last 6 months of their course disrupted yet managed record results. This year's pupils have had nearly their entire A level studies disrupted with lockdowns and working alone at home and have managed even better. I reckon if we said to A level kids going forward that they just study at home for the entire 2 years we can get the top level pass rate up past 75%.
Re-train all these redundant teachers as HGV drivers and it's a win-win situation all round!
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Aug 12, 2021 14:03:13 GMT
One thing these last 18 months have proven is that the value of teachers is vastly overrated. Last year's A level pupils had the last 6 months of their course disrupted yet managed record results. This year's pupils have had nearly their entire A level studies disrupted with lockdowns and working alone at home and have managed even better. I reckon if we said to A level kids going forward that they just study at home for the entire 2 years we can get the top level pass rate up past 75%. Re-train all these redundant teachers as HGV drivers and it's a win-win situation all round!I'll get them trained for free and they'd earn more than they do now! They would have to work 48 hours a week though and 'only' have 25 days holiday..... Basic rates are up to high £40s and with Overtime / Rest Day working, we have drivers earning well into the £70s. |
|
|
|
Post by Alex on Aug 12, 2021 20:14:10 GMT
I really do hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek on that one Bob.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 12, 2021 21:10:46 GMT
I really do hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek on that one Bob. Only partly. |
|
|
|
Post by garry on Aug 12, 2021 21:45:33 GMT
One thing these last 18 months have proven is that the value of teachers is vastly overrated. Last year's A level pupils had the last 6 months of their course disrupted yet managed record results. This year's pupils have had nearly their entire A level studies disrupted with lockdowns and working alone at home and have managed even better. I reckon if we said to A level kids going forward that they just study at home for the entire 2 years we can get the top level pass rate up past 75%. Re-train all these redundant teachers as HGV drivers and it's a win-win situation all round! I have to give credit to the sixth form college my oldest two attend (my daughter does her A levels next year). At the start of the pandemic they simply moved lessons online - same timetable, just via Teams. When they went back to in-person, they put a webcam in each classroom so that those who were isolating could still ‘attend’. My youngest (just about to start year 1 of her GCSE’s) had almost zero education from school during lockdown.The school was lazy and incompetent. If they were a commercial entity they’d be bust. |
|
|
|
Post by Alex on Aug 12, 2021 23:25:45 GMT
I really do hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek on that one Bob. Only partly. Well perhaps if you were married to a teacher who works her fingers to the bone for her pupils and puts in a ton of effort to differentiate her lessons so all her pupils can access them, takes time to rewrite lessons for pupils who have to stay home to isolate and has had one of the hardest years of her working life you wouldn't be so quick to take the piss. |
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 13, 2021 10:21:16 GMT
Well perhaps if you were married to a teacher who works her fingers to the bone for her pupils and puts in a ton of effort to differentiate her lessons so all her pupils can access them, takes time to rewrite lessons for pupils who have to stay home to isolate and has had one of the hardest years of her working life you wouldn't be so quick to take the piss. Sorry, I didn't realise teachers were a protected species and would take such offence over an obvious wind up. Then again, sometimes people are touchy because there's a degree of truth in the joke. My brother-in-law is a biology teacher and we and we take the piss out of him (and he of us) all the time. He actually retired during the pandemic and took an "easy" part-time job at M&S. He's back teaching now as he confessed it was the hardest job he's ever done. My niece just got her GCSE results and during the whole last 18 months my sister was given 5 mins of her teacher's time on Zoom and zero feedback on any of the 42 exams she's sat during that time and no guidance on any areas she should have focussed on. She's actually got good results, perhaps reinforcing my tongue in cheek original comment. |
|
|
|
Post by Alex on Aug 13, 2021 11:05:54 GMT
Sorry Bob, didn't mean to snap, it's been a very tricky and stressful time of late and I perhaps overreacted as I know you like to take the Mickey sometimes. Tbh there are a lot of teachers, including some my wife works with, who haven't stepped up to the plate and indeed some schools haven't offered the support they should have. But my wife spent all of lockdown delivering several live lessons a day and being a science teacher, most of these she had to plan specially because of course you cant do practical and lab work over zoom. So she really has been working her arse off for her students throughout and is now utterly knackered.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 13, 2021 11:10:00 GMT
There are many many good teachers - I take the piss out of my brother-in-law but I've seen enough posts on his facebook page from former pupils to know he's enriched their lives immeasurably. He's in Moscow now, just finishing 2 weeks quarantine and 5 bottles of whisky, ready to tackle Vlad's lads.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Aug 13, 2021 13:01:34 GMT
There are plenty of derogatory comments (not necessarily on here) aimed at 'beancounters' that go unmentioned.
I reckon it's open season on everyone all the time.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Aug 13, 2021 13:46:22 GMT
There are plenty of derogatory comments (not necessarily on here) aimed at 'beancounters' that go unmentioned. I reckon it's open season on everyone all the time. and we just shrug it off because we know it isn't true in the vast majority of cases. |
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Aug 13, 2021 14:36:06 GMT
There are plenty of derogatory comments (not necessarily on here) aimed at 'beancounters' that go unmentioned. I reckon it's open season on everyone all the time. and we just shrug it off because we know it isn't true in the vast majority of cases. Agreed. I actually often think its a good idea I never ended up in the car industry because I don't know if I could be objective about cost cutting on things I like..... |
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Aug 13, 2021 17:04:13 GMT
There are plenty of derogatory comments (not necessarily on here) aimed at 'beancounters' that go unmentioned. I reckon it's open season on everyone all the time. Oh you mean like; what does an accountant use for contraception? His personality. I’ll get me coat.. |
|
|
|
Post by Stuntman on Aug 14, 2021 19:38:30 GMT
I'm the same vintage (give or take about a year) as franki and garry. When I went to Cambridge*, the majority of colleges based most, or indeed all, of their offers on the Oxbridge Entrance Exam (pass it and your 'unconditional' offer was two E grades, which was the minimum matriculation requirement at the time) but some colleges made all their offers conditional on A-level grades. I applied to one such college and did my A-levels in 1986. I did 4 A-levels and 2 S-levels (these were Special Papers for particularly nerdy kids) and my offer was A1, A2, B, B. So I needed to get a decent grade in every subject, and actually get A grades in the two subjects I was doing the special papers in. And this was when the proportion of A grades awarded was less than 10%, and far fewer kids stayed on for A-levels anyway, so I strongly suspect that the quality of these academic year cohorts as whole were higher (fewer kids in the cohorts but they would generally have been the more academic ones). Anyway, I got A1, A1, A, B so I was in  Whist the increased uptake in higher education these days is laudable, the grade inflation over the past 35 years has been fairly ridiculous in my opinion, and the grades awarded this year and last year are just laughable in terms of their comparability to even two years previously. I feel most sorry for the top 10% academically, who now have grades that are undifferentiated from the next 20, 30, 50 percent of kids in their academic year cohort. garry - I hope your son really enjoys his time there. * clunking namedrop |
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Aug 16, 2021 8:18:33 GMT
I was talking to my daughter about the high number of A grades being awarded and how, in my opinion, they need to make the exams more difficult or the pass mark higher so that they can differentiate between students again. Her view was slightly different than I expected and she said that there was now much more emphasis on your personal statement, non academic activities/achievements and your interview, to differentiate between students. She has a friend who is a straight A student who wants to do medicine and both of her parents are also consultants. She couldn't get a place anywhere this year and is having to take a year out - apparently it was all going well until she had her interview, which doesn't make much sense to me because she is very empathetic and has worked the last two summers for a GP we know and has a glowing reference about the way she handles patients.
|
|
|
|
Post by Big Blue on Aug 16, 2021 9:00:02 GMT
I'm the same vintage (give or take about a year) as franki and garry. When I went to Cambridge*, the majority of colleges based most, or indeed all, of their offers on the Oxbridge Entrance Exam (pass it and your 'unconditional' offer was two E grades, which was the minimum matriculation requirement at the time) but some colleges made all their offers conditional on A-level grades. I applied to one such college and did my A-levels in 1986. ......... Whist the increased uptake in higher education these days is laudable, the grade inflation over the past 35 years has been fairly ridiculous in my opinion, and the grades awarded this year and last year are just laughable in terms of their comparability to even two years previously. I feel most sorry for the top 10% academically, who now have grades that are undifferentiated from the next 20, 30, 50 percent of kids in their academic year cohort. My Headmaster (also 1986 A level year) advised me that if a college was offering you based on achieving 2As and a B they didn't really want you but were prepared to have you if you exam-ed really well. I got a full unconditional when I eventually went at 21 in 1989, but mainly due to industrial experience gained and the fact the faculty head that interviewed me had also worked for the same practice as me. No bent rules at all...... An old school friend of mine who is a Maths head at some fancy school says it's acknowledged that the mid '80s was the very hardest period to do maths at A level. He also advises that a lot of the subject matter being done at A level now is only a par with what we did at O level. The fact of the matter is that successive governments, particularly the Blair one, have pushed for more university opportunity under the guise of opportunity for the masses but in reality to delay and then disguise the unemployment figures amongst the young. Making it easier to get there was the only way to do it. As to taking the piss out of accountants: I never forget that the Finance Director at Ericsson I worked under said that when he was doing the milk rounds at Uni the engineers (he did an engineering degree) came and talked about their involvement in the biggest projects in the world and how great out was. Then the accountants came and told him about their involvement in the biggest engineering projects ion the world and how great it was. The engineers went home in Maxis and 1100s. The Accountants in Granada Ghias, Mercedes' and BMWs. Like I said: he was the FINANCE director at an engineering organisation. |
|
