50479 said:
Although english develops nessesary life skills in the lower years, year 11 and 12 english doesn't have any more to do with life skills than any other subject. If the people that left in year 10 can survive without why should it be compulsory. i understand uni places different demands than those on students who left in year 10, but english is not essential to many courses. If math doens't have to be done (a truely vital subject) than why should english. Personally i enjoy english but it is my weakest subject, in other words i would get better marks if i didn't have to do it and could do something else. I agree that english can help other subjects, for instances it helps with being able to correcty phrase answers. whilst the critical study of texts which represents most of the work done in year 11 and 12 doesn't really have any real benifits on other subjects, life exists outside the HSC and i think english can influence a persons philosophy or at least encourage people to think in a philosophical manner. I think though that people should be able to choose whether they want to do this subject weighing up the pros and cons for themselves as they would do for any other subject.
THANKYOU!!!
I agree completely. The whole matter is black and white for me.
One can present a good argument for every subject about how beneficial it is in life or whatever. But at the level of year 12, we should be able to make our own decisions as to what subjects we want to do and choose them based on interest, future aspirations and/or ability. Like you say 50479 it is ridiculous that someone intending to do an entirely mathematics course at uni should be forced to do english in yr 12.
To the post above by laurennn91 you said:
But since when did the HSC become about excelling at only a particular strand of education? Isn't the whole idea meant to be about getting a whole-rounded education so that we can become better human beings generally?
WHAT?!! By the HSC, people are allowed to pick their own subjects because people have different strengths and weaknesses and want different things for their future . "
Excelling at a particular strand of education..." isn't that we are all aiming for? isn't that the whole idea of a career?!
Forgive me if I'm being too philosophic but I just don't think the HSC should be focused on succeeding in the tiniest range of subjects just to get the highest UAI possible.
So you think we should be studying a wide range of subjects then?! Oh lets make it so that everyone must do one science, one humanity, english, maths and a language, then, whopeee, we'll have a 'whole rounded education'!!?! WTF!
People should be able to choose the subjects they want and not, as in some cases, have their HSC experience and UAI dragged down by english when they could be doing something they enjoy that specifically helps them in their career aspirations.