Do you think 5th and 6th year should have more freedom?

Zhane

i mean...we're between the ages of 16 and 19 i think we should have more freedom...like no uniforms, treating and teaching us like young adults, i just dont think that we're getting a fair deal here. Well not in my school anyway...

Lantis

Bingo. Exact same feelings here. We're treated like we're still little kids.

Kold

I think it should become more like the english system, we get a career in mind and do 3 or more specialised subjects instead of 7 subjects that u hate and may have nothing to do with what you want to do.

richindub2

plenty of freedom in good schools like bruce/ashfield/the institute etc, simple solution is to change schools!

PHB

Change school if you really dont like it.
I never cared about uniforms, I think its actually a good thing tbh.
As for teachers teaching you like young adults, you're in the wrong classes.

seamus

Originally posted by Zhane
[Btreating and teaching us like young adults [/B]

Well, you are young adults.

The key is that the school needs to have a base set or rules. Most schools decide that making some rules obligatory for everyone but 5th and 6th years is unfair, or they may think it encourages things like bullying and anti-social behaviour.

It's only a year or two. It's horrible, but it's not unbearable.

projectmayhem

Originally posted by Kold
I think it should become more like the english system, we get a career in mind and do 3 or more specialised subjects instead of 7 subjects that u hate and may have nothing to do with what you want to do.

absolutely. i'm not in secondary anymore so i should know... doing 3 or 4 subjects with a career in mind is far easier to manage. the stress brought about by the leaving cert is unjustified & just ****ty

CuLT

Those freedoms aren't important. I agree with seamus on the two-tier thing, not a great idea.
And Rich, the institute gives with one hand and takes away with the other: No prefects or student council. Not that I want one, just mentioning .

Basically, with relation to the LC it's either Knuckle Down or Knuckle Up, because you need to be studying for those years, afterwards, without a LC, you'll have to fight to get anywhere.

tinkerbell

In most schools, you're not gonna get much freedom at all. In my old school, the principal was like a drill sergeant (I have since found out that this year, she has brought in a clocking-in and clocking-out system!!!! How bizaare is that?!)

I was soo delighted to be finally outta there once the L/C was over. Ya jus gotta grin and bear it - it's only for another year or two and then you'll be outta there and have all the freedom you want. And since sixth year goes by so quickly, before you know it, you'll just have finished your last L/C exam and you can run for the hills!

p

Originally posted by Zhane
i mean...we're between the ages of 16 and 19 i think we should have more freedom...like no uniforms, treating and teaching us like young adults, i just dont think that we're getting a fair deal here. Well not in my school anyway...

What are you going to do about it so?

If you're a young adult as you say then you need to think and act maturely. Do you have a Students Union, do you have a Parent Teachers Association. Do you have Class leaders/representatives? Maybe you can set something up.

If you really want to be treated better, you need to get some kind of basic goals, and wants. You also need to present a really good argument for the things you want. The key to any negotiation is taking small steps. I think aiming for no uniforms is not going to happen for example, many parents definately wouldn't support it. But other requests you have, may be entertained.

A friend of mine in primary school managed to organise the kids in order to get hand dryers in the bathrooms. Not a huge deal, but impressive nonetheless.

In short, if you want to be treated like adults, then you'll have to act maturely.

Good luck to you, and let us know if you get anywhere.

Agent Smith

we tried the student union thing in my school aand it's the bigest thing ever....



we have a sign in and sign-out system. doesnt bother me that much,
all you do is sign when you get in, sign when you leave...


school's a bitch but what can you do..... in 18/6 month's thats all that's all over......


enjoy it what you can

Sangre

I never had any problems in my school, I always got respect from teachers, probably because I deserved it though. Once you hit 16, respect is not automatically bistowed on you, you actually have to earn it and whining isn't going to get you anywhere.

Our school was quite decent, our own commonroom, SU and this year I heard they introduced a no unifrom policy. In 6th year in my school I was given a lot of leeway from teachers/year head, they knew I wasn't a messer so they let me get away with a lot more things, as in no uniform, hanging around between classes. At the end of the year my year head didn't even mind because when I stopped going to Irish class because he knew I had just dropped down from Honours and I didnt need to go to class, so he let me study in the library.

Sangre

Originally posted by Kold
I think it should become more like the english system, we get a career in mind and do 3 or more specialised subjects instead of 7 subjects that u hate and may have nothing to do with what you want to do.

My old physics teacher felt this forced you to specialise way to early, not everyone has a career in mind aged 16.

Kold

You'd be 16/17 and I think most people would be able to refine their career choice by their favourite subjects anyway...

Sangre

Maybe I should have mention he was English, but anyway, I suppose it would be great to drop some subjects, but 3 does limit you a lot.

Anyway I dont care, Im in college, wh00t :P

Raz

When I was in LC I did French, Business, Tech Drawing and Physics. Didn't have a clue what I wanted to do (and I'm still not sure at 4th year in college!). The basic subjects you do are pretty much essential to anything you want to do in future and the other four let you refine a career path or keep your options open (what I went for). I could have gone to almost any course with my LC.

As for the more freedom thing... That's quite immature. I know it's frustrating but if you're the young adult you say you are then surely you can see the merits of having such restrictions.
Think about those wasters who just cause trouble. How much worse would it be if you reduced their restrictions?!?

Mutant_Fruit

If you want respect, you earn it. I have a good reputation as a non-messer, and such i'm allowed a lot of lee-way. If i ever want to go to the shop during a free class, i can (well, technically i can't). I've even gone to the shopp and met my vice-principal there, and he didn't say a word, we even had a little chat about the price of rolls nowadays.

I also have problems with a specific teacher, and so i can ditch his class at times, and nothing is said about it. (i.e. whenever i'm bogged down in other work, i skip it and do some proper work).

plenty of freedom in good schools like bruce/ashfield/the institute etc

Ashfield is for tw*ts who have too much money, or who got kicked out of too many other schools. Believe me, i live 5 mins from it and do Applied Maths there. Everyone who "left" my school that i knew has ended up there. All the "hard" lads who were "too mad" for school.

Ashfield is no better than any other school (and maybe worse in my opinion) except for the fact you have a broader range of subjects. THe only reason Ashfield get such "good" results in leaving cert exams is that they get all the people who are repeating the exam. i.e. doing the same course for a third year, meaning of course they'll do better.

My advice, if ya can't stick wearing a uniform, and you don;t get respect off teachers, think to yourself why you don;t get respect. I know i've earned mine.

Also, the current school system is grand. Did you know that the irish education system is one of the best in Europe? Meaning that you would be preferred over some British student, if all else was equal! Keep that in mind when you call for it to be made even easier.

Gearoid

It aint that great, look at the way they teach Irish-puts people of it, some even hate it, the same goes for maths, they should teach stuff to make it interesting not out of text books that only make good kindling.

Stark

Didn't mind having to wear a uniform in school. Saved on the five minutes of "what should I wear?" every morning.

As for the more freedom thing... That's quite immature. I know it's frustrating but if you're the young adult you say you are then surely you can see the merits of having such restrictions.
Think about those wasters who just cause trouble. How much worse would it be if you reduced their restrictions?!?

Unfortunately true. The minority will always ruin it for the majority.

It can get a bit annoying not being treated like an adult, especially as you can tend to be moulded into the role assigned to you. In our school they wouldn't even leave us unsupervised in a classroom, during change of teachers we had to all leave the class file outside, the file back in when the new teacher arrived (despite it being only a minute or two of a difference).

And then you get to college where you've loads of freedom and you find yourself missing every second lecture