Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny Allum (1 Viewer)

[flashyGoldFish]

High school students are increasingly studying subjects they consider safe options rather than challenging themselves, the head of one of Sydney's most privileged private schools says.
Jenny Allum, principal of SCEGGS Darlinghurst since 1996, said an aversion to academic risk had emerged partly as a reaction to the competitive nature of the HSC.
As evidence of the trend towards ''choosing the easy option'', she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics, as well as students' tendency to memorise essays ahead of English exams.
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''We need, as a society, to encourage high levels of intellectual rigour,'' she told her school's annual speech night at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday. ''We should value academic pursuits - to tell students that it is OK to attempt hard work.''
Fairfax Media reported this year the proportion of HSC students studying a foreign language was at a historic low and less than a fifth of what it was during the 1950s. Students were also increasingly opting for general mathematics instead of the more challenging 2-unit maths.
''All of us, in this school community and in our broader society, need to encourage academic resilience in our young people, so that they are not put off by a hard HSC paper,'' Ms Allum said.
Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.
‘‘But, on the other hand, the HSC is harder than ever and the competitive underpinning means kids are going to be working harder than many were 20 years ago,’’ he said. ‘‘And there are parts of our community which are more competitive and harder working and less daunted by the challenges of physics and mathematics than ever before.’’


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/educ...jenny-allum-20131210-2z42c.html#ixzz2n7Nx0b74

So so true

 

[isildurrrr1]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

do it asian style, if you do poorly in school you get made fun of like the dumbass in class.

 

[Crobat]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

but if my kid does poorly clearly it is the fault of the syllabus being too hard! don't them getting discouraged from life because of a little hard work now!!!!!

 

[SylviaB]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

dysgenic welfare statism is to blame

 

[asianese]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

Agree with her on some fronts. But, there are still many students who take 'difficult' subjects e.g. mx2, mx1, language extensions just for the scaling, but this is a related but different matter.

 

[obliviousninja]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

'Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.'

'she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics'

Pretty contradictory if you ask me. Maths is supposed to maximise ATAR. raw 40/100 is mid 90s.

 

[isildurrrr1]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

'Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.'

'she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics'

Pretty contradictory if you ask me. Maths is supposed to maximise ATAR. raw 40/100 is mid 90s.

most people are scared of maths that's why.

 

[hawkrider]

'Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.'

'she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics'

Pretty contradictory if you ask me. Maths is supposed to maximise ATAR. raw 40/100 is mid 90s.

Thank god I am at least doing 2unit maths.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[anomalousdecay]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

'Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.'

'she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics'

Pretty contradictory if you ask me. Maths is supposed to maximise ATAR. raw 40/100 is mid 90s.

Mid 60's not 90's.

Just add 25 to the raw and that is what you get.

 

[obliviousninja]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

Mid 60's not 90's.

Just add 25 to the raw and that is what you get.

mid 90s as in, after alignment and marks are converted into atar

 

[flashyGoldFish]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

'Board of Studies NSW president Tom Alegounarias agreed the ''acute competitiveness'' of the HSC meant students were increasingly taking a ''safety-first approach'' and choosing subjects they think will maximise their ATAR.'

'she cited the state-wide drop in students studying languages and higher levels of mathematics'

Pretty contradictory if you ask me. Maths is supposed to maximise ATAR. raw 40/100 is mid 90s.

Yeah but thats a lot harder to get 40 raw than lets say 80 raw in something easy

 

[obliviousninja]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

Yeah but thats a lot harder to get 40 raw than lets say 80 raw in something easy

Lol. Not really.

But the thing is that a 80 raw in something easier is not going to yield a mid 90s atar.

 

[flashyGoldFish]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

Lol. Not really.

But the thing is that a 80 raw in something easier is not going to yield a mid 90s atar.

You're saying its as easy if we say something liek 4 unit maths compared to Senior Science for example? We both know you're wrong.

Ive got nothing against students who play the system, pick the easy subjects and get ATARs so much higher than they deserve. Im a lot more against the system that allows them to do this

 

[SylviaB]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

whats scaling like in nsw?
its super hard to get a top-tier ATAR in vic without doing hard subjects because of scaling

 

[Drongoski]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

As pointed out by others, the unis are largely to blame for allowing this to happen, by not mandating requisite subjects for various courses. In this way, ATAR becomes the primary determinant for acceptance to courses.

The unis, I suspect, have adopted this policy of not mandating course prerequisites(e.g. Physics for Engineering, Chemistry for Medicine) so they can enrol more students - more students mean they can survive and be more financialy viable.

 

[Kiraken]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

its pretty much the same here

 

[isildurrrr1]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

As pointed out by others, the unis are largely to blame for allowing this to happen, by not mandating requisite subjects for various courses. In this way, ATAR becomes the primary determinant for acceptance to courses.

The unis, I suspect, have adopted this policy of not mandating course prerequisites(e.g. Physics for Engineering, Chemistry for Medicine) so they can enrol more students - more students mean they can survive and be more financialy viable.

I think you'd find hardly anyone enrolling into engineering without knowing physics or medicine without chemistry. With med you need to take a UMAT anyway. That's why uni's have the whole "assumed knowledge" portion and things get iffy when you account for overseas applicants.

 

[DannyBoy33]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

Whats the fuzz about it? its all logical. You cannot expect (at least not from the most of the kids) to understand what will benefit them mostly in the future.

 

[Drongoski]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

I think you'd find hardly anyone enrolling into engineering without knowing physics or medicine without chemistry. With med you need to take a UMAT anyway. That's why uni's have the whole "assumed knowledge" portion and things get iffy when you account for overseas applicants.

About 3 weeks ago I met a Sydney Uni Electrical Engineering student who has not done physics at school. I assumed he must have taken a bridging course in physics. Nope, he told me. I was gobsmacked. Sydney U, allowing a student to do Electrical Engg, without requiring him to do physics! He is finding the course hard, though.

 

[JohnMaximus]

Re: Students taking easy subject options says SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny All

They will proudly take their mediocre atars and end up dropping down/out to teaching.


Then we will have more idiot teachers speaking from experience- pick what you enjoy (EZ subjects), not what scales well (relevant subjects).