One of the conversations I had shocked me to the core. A thirteen year old girl told me that when she grows up she wants to be a physicist. Awesome, right? Then she asked me about GCSE choices. I said "do all the sciences". She explained that her school only lets a few students do all three sciences, and she doubted they'd pick her. So I suggested writing to her head teacher, talking to her science teachers, generally making a fuss, etc. At this point her teacher who was monitoring the mentoring stepped in and advised her to "pick which two sciences she liked best". The girl said physics and biology. The teacher advised dropping chemistry.
I jumped back in to the conversation and said if you want to be a physicist you need to do chemistry GCSE too. The girl said she wanted to do chemistry, but it was the science she found the hardest so they wouldn't let her do it.
Then I asked both of them, the girl and the teacher, what other GCSEs she would do. The teacher replied "everyone does English, everyone does Maths and everyone does R.E."!
A thirteen year old girl from a deprived inner city area who dreams of being a scientist is being forced to study religion instead of chemistry?
I am going to turn green and smash things.
5 comments:
I don't think RE is about teaching religious beliefs but informing our younger generation about other's beliefs - therefore, hopefully, teaching tolerance and understanding. I think the world could do with more of both. At the same time, the school needs to look at how this young woman can achieve her aims in life. Not easy when you have a restricted curriculum and OFSTED breathing down your neck!
Everyone does RE because it's easy to get a good grade.
RE is compulsory it's not an either or situation where it replaces a certain subject like english, maths (and a DT subject under labour)are compulsory, The continued undermining of RE as an actual subject is an issue in the education system .
RE is compulsory it's not an either or situation where it replaces a certain subject like english, maths (and a DT subject under labour)are compulsory, The continued undermining of RE as an actual subject is an issue in the education system .
Not to GCSE it's not. And mythology is not as important as chemistry.
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