Posted: Nov 10, 2011 12:05 pm
HAJiME, I don't really understand that you had to apply to university to complete your A Levels. Was it part of the course? If so, it's hardly a universal requirement. This certainly doesn't mean you are forced to go to university, given you took two years off before you attended.
In addition, Ontario makes the distinction between Universities (where you might study an academic subject like Physics, Human Biology, English or History) and College (where you could also learn an academic subject but the entry levels would be lower, you would need College rather than University courses and the courses would usually be focused on getting you a job). Most people do something at the tertiary level, if only to train them for a specific job.
In my undergraduate degree I doubled majored in English and History, and minored in Polical Science. None of these lead to jobs and post-graduation I worked in a coffee shop, a toy shop, in a school and as a substitute music teacher in order to earn some money. I didn't really have a dream but I realised that in order to be employed full time I would need more qualifications, so I attended Teacher's College. There are few jobs in Ontario so I came to the UK, where I also have citizenship, and now work as a teacher here (where there are lots of jobs for someone with my skills).
If you weren't made aware of the choices available to you, that's a problem and I wish the school had given you more guidance about your options. I know when I graduated most people went to university and now Ontario is pulling off a bit and trying to get more people to consider the more practical college option.
However, your university degree will be important in the future as you begin to work and gain experience. It will open doors to higher level careers that your undergrad comrades will not have. On top of that, it has hopefully required you to demonstrate that you can think at a higher level.
*
The UK education system is quite different to the UK system. It is set up in such a way that you are intended to go to school until you are 16. After that you get some kind of credentials and in the past this was fine because companies took in sixteen year olds and apprenticed them and trained them up from basically being able to read and add (something that no longer occurs). The GCSE qualification is quite basic, compared to a similar grade level in Ontario.
A-Levels, on the other hand, are much harder than Grades 11 and 12 in Ontario. They are intended to focus study in an academic, pre-university way and do not lend themselves well to the generalist most of us will have to be in our lives in this educational climate. There is no middle of the road qualification that allows children to continue their studies in a general way until they reach 18 and are thus more able to make decisions about their lives.
In Ontario, you can (and should probably) study 7 or 8 subjects at the top level of school. This gives you a broad base at 17-18 to work off. The classes, as I said, are much less specialised and so enable everyone to graduate high school with a generalist diploma in a variety of classes. If you have University level classes, this doesn't disqualify you from college but it also means you can apply to universities. If you have college level classes you can return to school in the summer to get university-level qualifications if you change your mind.
University isn't for everyone but I would recommend general education to everyone until 18 and I recognise how improved a society is where people have even employment-useless types of university education. A society that is educated to that level functions and reacts much better to economic hardship. I can't imagine what the children leaving school at 16 are thinking in the UK: there are much fewer jobs. Training in the workplace no longer really exists as much and rarely leaves to a secure, life-long job as it used to. The GCSE is quite basic and put them at a severe academic disadvantage over university-educated friends and makes it incredibly hard for them.
Streaming is just part of this education system set up for an economy and workplace that no longer exists. It was fine (or, some dismal version of fine) where there were coal-mines, ship-yards and factories to work in. You were expected to learn to read and add and that was fine because there was a job for you down t' mine and that was fine for a sixteen year old. If you were bright, but not academic, there was plenty of chance for you to end up supervising a load of coal-faced miners. Let the kids who get into grammar schools and be streamed into university directly and then go straight into the civil service, like their Daddies.
The world no longer works like that. Most jobs benefit from being filled by a highly literate, broad-minded, generalized, highly-educated person who already had a high level of maturity. Fooling around on the bus, drinking until you vomit and not being able to speak well (not "in the right accent" but "clearly, accurately, politely, intelligently and kindly") are not skills employers are going to want. They want that 20, 21 year old who is mature and not all that likely to show up to work hung over. Can they be patient with customers? Can they work in a number of different jobs?
Once upon a time, a sixteen year old could haul coal or clean clothes and kept his or her mouth shut because he or she was in a world of powerful adults. Now, a sixteen year old needs to be able, at the very list, be well-presented, patient and clear with customers in order to get on the ladder at all. Better to keep those people in school two more years not learning a trade at all but just learning more about the world and life and academic skills they can come to later if they want to not work at Sainsbury's their entire life. Get them to a stage where they can sit on a bus and talk quitely, dress themselves without wearing a school uniform and talk in a measured, calm and sensible way to a customer. Only then should they be ejected into the world.
The system is borked in the UK. It does not mesh well with the realities of the workplace. Nobody wants to train a sixteen year old when they could take in a twenty one or two year old with a university education.
In addition, Ontario makes the distinction between Universities (where you might study an academic subject like Physics, Human Biology, English or History) and College (where you could also learn an academic subject but the entry levels would be lower, you would need College rather than University courses and the courses would usually be focused on getting you a job). Most people do something at the tertiary level, if only to train them for a specific job.
In my undergraduate degree I doubled majored in English and History, and minored in Polical Science. None of these lead to jobs and post-graduation I worked in a coffee shop, a toy shop, in a school and as a substitute music teacher in order to earn some money. I didn't really have a dream but I realised that in order to be employed full time I would need more qualifications, so I attended Teacher's College. There are few jobs in Ontario so I came to the UK, where I also have citizenship, and now work as a teacher here (where there are lots of jobs for someone with my skills).
If you weren't made aware of the choices available to you, that's a problem and I wish the school had given you more guidance about your options. I know when I graduated most people went to university and now Ontario is pulling off a bit and trying to get more people to consider the more practical college option.
However, your university degree will be important in the future as you begin to work and gain experience. It will open doors to higher level careers that your undergrad comrades will not have. On top of that, it has hopefully required you to demonstrate that you can think at a higher level.
*
The UK education system is quite different to the UK system. It is set up in such a way that you are intended to go to school until you are 16. After that you get some kind of credentials and in the past this was fine because companies took in sixteen year olds and apprenticed them and trained them up from basically being able to read and add (something that no longer occurs). The GCSE qualification is quite basic, compared to a similar grade level in Ontario.
A-Levels, on the other hand, are much harder than Grades 11 and 12 in Ontario. They are intended to focus study in an academic, pre-university way and do not lend themselves well to the generalist most of us will have to be in our lives in this educational climate. There is no middle of the road qualification that allows children to continue their studies in a general way until they reach 18 and are thus more able to make decisions about their lives.
In Ontario, you can (and should probably) study 7 or 8 subjects at the top level of school. This gives you a broad base at 17-18 to work off. The classes, as I said, are much less specialised and so enable everyone to graduate high school with a generalist diploma in a variety of classes. If you have University level classes, this doesn't disqualify you from college but it also means you can apply to universities. If you have college level classes you can return to school in the summer to get university-level qualifications if you change your mind.
University isn't for everyone but I would recommend general education to everyone until 18 and I recognise how improved a society is where people have even employment-useless types of university education. A society that is educated to that level functions and reacts much better to economic hardship. I can't imagine what the children leaving school at 16 are thinking in the UK: there are much fewer jobs. Training in the workplace no longer really exists as much and rarely leaves to a secure, life-long job as it used to. The GCSE is quite basic and put them at a severe academic disadvantage over university-educated friends and makes it incredibly hard for them.
Streaming is just part of this education system set up for an economy and workplace that no longer exists. It was fine (or, some dismal version of fine) where there were coal-mines, ship-yards and factories to work in. You were expected to learn to read and add and that was fine because there was a job for you down t' mine and that was fine for a sixteen year old. If you were bright, but not academic, there was plenty of chance for you to end up supervising a load of coal-faced miners. Let the kids who get into grammar schools and be streamed into university directly and then go straight into the civil service, like their Daddies.
The world no longer works like that. Most jobs benefit from being filled by a highly literate, broad-minded, generalized, highly-educated person who already had a high level of maturity. Fooling around on the bus, drinking until you vomit and not being able to speak well (not "in the right accent" but "clearly, accurately, politely, intelligently and kindly") are not skills employers are going to want. They want that 20, 21 year old who is mature and not all that likely to show up to work hung over. Can they be patient with customers? Can they work in a number of different jobs?
Once upon a time, a sixteen year old could haul coal or clean clothes and kept his or her mouth shut because he or she was in a world of powerful adults. Now, a sixteen year old needs to be able, at the very list, be well-presented, patient and clear with customers in order to get on the ladder at all. Better to keep those people in school two more years not learning a trade at all but just learning more about the world and life and academic skills they can come to later if they want to not work at Sainsbury's their entire life. Get them to a stage where they can sit on a bus and talk quitely, dress themselves without wearing a school uniform and talk in a measured, calm and sensible way to a customer. Only then should they be ejected into the world.
The system is borked in the UK. It does not mesh well with the realities of the workplace. Nobody wants to train a sixteen year old when they could take in a twenty one or two year old with a university education.