Back when school league tables were first introduced I was a kinda.. middling.. student who was having some emotional and mental problems. The school railroaded me down paths they felt would offer the least resistance for me getting good grades in my GCSE's. Problem is they were subjects my friends were not taking and I was not even remotely interested in.
Cue me ending up in the bottom class for several subjects, unable to study even when I tried to get going due to the disruptive behaviour of my classmates.
They did the same thing to me with A levels.. despite me technically making the grade to do them, and all my friends doing them, and actually being interested in doing them. They wouldn't even suggest I go to a college that might have suited me better at the time. They pressured me and several other similar students into a GNVQ program they were doing to show they are offering "Alternatives" to A Levels. Unfortunately they depended upon an outside training agency for that, who failed spectacularly to even show up on many occasions.. a grand total of one of the students who took that class for a year passed, and she was fortunate enough to have an uncle who did the training in the same subject for his place of work and could help her.
I will say that I had uniform and was required to stay in school from the moment it started to the end.. only 6th Form students were allowed to leave the grounds and not wear uniforms, and they were segregated by choice from the rest of the school. I don't think anyone but the trouble makers ever had problems with either of these things.
Cue me ending up in the bottom class for several subjects, unable to study even when I tried to get going due to the disruptive behaviour of my classmates.
They did the same thing to me with A levels.. despite me technically making the grade to do them, and all my friends doing them, and actually being interested in doing them. They wouldn't even suggest I go to a college that might have suited me better at the time. They pressured me and several other similar students into a GNVQ program they were doing to show they are offering "Alternatives" to A Levels. Unfortunately they depended upon an outside training agency for that, who failed spectacularly to even show up on many occasions.. a grand total of one of the students who took that class for a year passed, and she was fortunate enough to have an uncle who did the training in the same subject for his place of work and could help her.
I will say that I had uniform and was required to stay in school from the moment it started to the end.. only 6th Form students were allowed to leave the grounds and not wear uniforms, and they were segregated by choice from the rest of the school. I don't think anyone but the trouble makers ever had problems with either of these things.