THE SIXTH FORM YEARS - INTRODUCTION

I didn’t like school but I knew full well that I would be staying on into further education many years before I could actually leave. I genuinely believed that getting A-Levels and/or improving on the G.C.S.E grades I already had would greatly increase my future prospects (read earnings). After all I had spent the previous 5 years in secondary school being told that as well as being constantly reminded from home. In some ways it felt that it was my only option at the time the proportion of people “staying on” had been increasing for many years by that point.

One bonus was that education would finally be how I believed it should be. I would be at school by choice not because of the law of the land. I would be studying subjects that I had chosen, with people who also wanted to be in that class and who were a similar level of ability. It didn’t turn out exactly like this of course but it wasn’t far off.

At my sixth form interview I went through the subjects that I wanted to do. A-level Maths picked itself at it was the best G.C.S.E grade I had. I had already agreed with Mr Ravat to do A-Level computing despite the fact I had only got a grade D for information systems. I wanted to do one of the sciences probably chemistry but it clashed with computing so I was forced to choose between them. My hatred of the King Edward VII science teachers was the deciding factor (see the entry KING EDWARD VII BY SUBJECT PART 1 - located in the COMPULSORY EDUCATION chapter for details). I was heavily pressured to retake English language G.C.S.E but that was only a one year course so I went for that as well.

In addition to this I discovered that it was compulsory for every A-level student to do either A-level general studies or politics. I didn’t agree with that as all since we were now at school by choice. Like 90% of people I was instantly put off by politics and picked General studies.

Academically I suffered in the same way as I had done through the rest of secondary school education. In the classroom I was fine and performed ok for tests and exams. When it came to coursework and assignments to be completed away from the classroom I would typically leave it until the last minute, rush it and hand in a sub standard piece of work. The sixth form had lots of free time and I never made the best use of it.

Socially I always felt out of place in the sixth form, nearly all of my friends at the time were those who dropped out of school and had entered the world of employment. I had no financial support from home and up until December 1994 age 17 the only money I had was the 7 pounds a week from a paper round. So when I sat in the library with a table full of people who were talking about driving lessons (bankrolled by their parents) to say I felt out of place was an understatement. Likewise I never went to any of the social events like the sixth form parties simply because I couldn’t afford to go.

I had already chosen not to go to university regardless of what grades I got simply because I knew full well that my inability to make best use of my time would be found out. So as with above I couldn’t get involved with any discussions about that as well.

My biggest issue of the time I spent doing A-levels was not while I was actually there but in the years after when I discovered the A-levels I had got were no help at all in getting a job (or a better than average job). I sacrificed two years of my life (read two years with hardly any money!) believing that 10 years or so down the line I would be rewarded which I wasn’t.

If I had devoted the same amount of time to employment instead of education during those two years I would have probably earned in the region of 5000 pounds which would have made a massive difference to my life. Even if it was a mundane job like stacking shelves in a supermarket I would have been far more employable at the age of 18 with a work reference saying that I had been a good reliable honest worker than having no work experience and a few useless A-levels.

REPORTS

1993 - FORM TUTOR (Mrs Degg)

Matthew has settled into his sixth form courses well and appears to be working quite hard. There are one or two areas where he needs to put in a little more effort and I do think he could probably complete more work at home. He especially need to put more effort into achieving a better grade in English. A little more commitment should see him through, give it a try Matthew

1993 - DIVISION HEAD (Mr Reeve)

These are encouraging reports which indicate that Matthew is making good use of his time in the sixth form. I very much support Mr Harris comments and hope to see greater effort and commitment in general studies. Well done so far.