Hi EC, So, my IGCSEs are in half a year, and for those of you that don't know what IGCSEs are, they are GCSEs but with A-level content, so they are somewhat harder. I spent a lot of my time playing games and generally wasting time, and I didn't realize how much shit I was in until I got an F in my french mock exam. My science and maths grades are pretty decent though, planned to get A or B in DA sciences + Maths. I actually had an "epiphany" when I got that F. So I got my shit together, looked at my options and now have a life plan for what I plan to do up to my exams, and after in terms of an apprenticeship. Now, I am a realist, and quite frankly, keeping french and geography isn't realistic. They are just bringing me down, and I already do revising during ALL of my free time every day of the week. My plan is to drop french and geography, as I believe they have no use for me life, and focus on doing well in DA sciences, english, maths and business studies. My english grade was not particularly great, and I need to get at least a C in all, as I don't want to have to redo a year in order to pass them all. If I keep french and geography, then the extra work I have to put into those will drastically take away the time I have for the others, and quite frankly I can't afford that. I told my dad, and quite frankly he just basically said no. It's not exactly open to debate. Now, the thing is, I know I have a loving sister and now a life plan, so quite frankly I don't give a fuck about that view. I'm looking out for my future now and I need to do what is realistic and most beneficial for me. Now, should I go about trying to change my dads mind? If so, how? Or, what I was going to do, was just simply pretend I've dropped the subjects; stop revising for them, stop handing in assignments, do revision for other courses during lesson time and not attend the final exam. He can kick me out the house if he wants, I'll just stay at my sisters. So this is happening and I need some advice. My plan is to pass DA sciences, maths, english and hopefully business studies, get an apprenticeship as (probably) an electrician or some form of technology specialist, get my license, car and insurance at 17, move out of the house by 18-20, depending on when the apprenticeship is. I have quite a lot of money tucked away so this isn't unrealistic either. I would appreciate no answers involving keeping the subjects either, as I just simply can't. Because of how badly I fucked up doing nothing except gaming I have to focus so intently on revising now I have no time to do other revision types. I have quit gaming altogether now though, so that isn't a problem. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read, and would appreciate thoughts on the matter.
You say your dad didn't leave it open to debate, so trying to change his mind is probably a waste of time. Congrats on coming up with a plan and taking control of your life, good on you.
Yeah that's what I was afraid of, would have been easier if I could change his mind instead of him finding out I'm no longer taking the subjects. Thanks anyway though.
Hey, It's an understandable concern for your father to have due to education policy becoming particularly focused on the importance of modern foreign languages as a core subject to study, so I imagine he is fixating on that somewhat when he flat out refuses to let you drop them. Just out of curiousity, what is involved with dropping a subject? Does it mean you are no longer enrolled on those subjects and it will not appear on your marks transcript, or will it appear on there as failed subjects? The reason I ask is because (as you'll probably be aware) apprenticeships are more sought after than ever in our current economic climate, and your excellent predicted results in your other subjects could be sidelined by possible failed marks dominating the attention of prospective employers etc. it's something worth considering, even if there's not much you can do about it at this point (and that's assuming they would even appear on your transcript that interviewers would see). Anyways, back to your dad. Ultimately your education is for you to do, so whilst his input on it is important, he can't expect to take such an unreasonable approach. After all, if he cares about your success then it is counter-productive for him to put you in a position in which you wouldn't be able to cope, or even kick you out of the house for not doing it his way. My immediate advice would be to not make the assumption that he will not shift his opinion. It's not uncommon for young people to find one or two subjects difficult and to just want to give up, and if our parents allowed us to do that every time then truancy levels would soar. What may be worth doing is explaining to him why dropping the two subjects will ultimately benefit your academic success in the long term, and explain that an absence of Geography and French will not affect the life plan that you've carefully made for yourself. It may just be that he thinks you are just wanting to walk away after finding things a little difficult and not thinking carefully about the repercussions, so if you allow him to see you've put a lot of thought and care into your plan then there's no reason he should be a barrier for you. If he continues to be opposed to the plan then he will just have to learn to accept your decision as its your education and not his.
He's actually not, that's one of the sad parts. He doesn't want me to drop French because he wants me to know another language, kind of a bad reason. Besides if I did want to learn a language, I'd rather learn Mandarin seeing as that's the most common language in the world. Nah, it's still about 7 months away so the school hasn't sorted out the exam centers yet, so it just wouldn't show up. I've already talked to him more and he still is just ignoring me really, so I'll just have to go my way about things. Thanks for the advice though.
