promises to be a day of contrasts.
In the afternoon Reidski and I are going to Sadler's Wells to see West Side Story (see this for far more articulate praise than I could ever manage on just what makes West Side story so wonderful.) The reviews have been nothing less than gushing and as it is probably my favourite film of all time to say I am looking forward to it is way past an understatement.
In the morning however..........
both my sons get their exam results.
Now it is not that I think either or both of them are incapable of passing exams. GSCE results in the past have indeed shown that they CAN pass exams - albeit it not with flying colours. I had hoped that given how averagely they did achieve at GSCE Level that they would be spurred on to work somewhat harder during their sixth form studies. This has proved to be a false hope.
I was a right little swot at school. For my A Levels I got what my careers teacher told me were "the best results in the school by far." (False modesty apart they WERE the best results in the school by far - but the competition wasn't exactly red hot.) Anyway, what I am trying to say here is that I got my results by working - by working hard - and call me old fashioned but I still tend to think that in order to pass exams you really do need to actually revise for the things. There was no visible sign whatsoever that either of my boys were revising for their exams last June. Even with my most optimistic head on I cannot realistically hope for anything more than them having 'just about done enough' when the results arrive tomorrow.
So to say I am not exactly looking forward to hearing their results is also way past an understatement. And it can be guaranteed that when the media is banging on tomorrow about how A Level results are up again that my cats will be staying well out of kicking range.
(As I was writing this my friend Anne sent me a text asking me to wish them both luck for tomorrow. If only that was all that was needed!)
(Arrghh! You won't believe this and I hardly expect you to but I just got another text before I could press 'publish' from my friend Fiona saying the exact same thing. Do all my friends have psychic powers or are they just trying to cause me additional stress?)
Dawn
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At dawn today, I was walking along the beach at Filey. It was low tide and
the sun had just risen over Flamborough Head. In front of of me, I saw a
man d...
3 hours ago
9 comments:
You know, I think it's a fact that boys just don't get down to school work in the same way as girls do. Maybe it's that old thing about them maturing slower, I don't know. But my boys were both unwilling to actually get down to serious study.
One flunked school completely, and he's just now, at age 23, finishing a course of study to give him a trade (sound engineer, music producer stuff). The other was officially gifted and still didn't seem able to settle to revision and actually only got into university on the interview because his A levels were not quite up to scratch. He settle down there, though and got a 2:1 honours degree.
You'll really enjoy Sadler's Wells though! Have fun - and good luck to the boys!
I seem to remember it was maturing that was the problem. My teenage years were spent devoted to masturbation. Who had any time for study?!!
This is why all boys should be given free entry to university, by which point their interest in their own body has waned and their wrists are strong enough to write 15,000-word essays at one sitting.
Oh yes, btw, fingers crossed, JJ. :-) Are we going to be told the results?
Boys will be boys! Our daughter Frances worked so hard for A level success but our son Ian massively underachieved at school - he found various ways of hiding the truth and avoiding work - and the school's poor communication didn't help. Mind you Ian is doing alright for himself now and has no student loan debts to weigh him down. Fingers crossed for your boys - I trust you will let your fellow bloggers know how they got on.
I was always a hard worker at school but found doing revision very dry and boring and therefore didn't do as well as I could've I guess. I got 9/9 GCSEs all grade A-C and got 4/4 A Levels grades B-E. The ones I got a D and E for I was most disappointed about. So stories about A Levels getting easier pisses me off.
Even with my slightly rubbish A Levels I got onto the university course of my choice and went on to get a 2:1 in my BA(Hons). In my whole three years at uni I only did two exams and the rest was all coursework. What that could prove is that I'm not very good at exams. And maybe A Levels are only seen to be getting easier as the pupils taking them have been doing exams since they were in the womb so have had plenty of practice.
I hope they did well, JJ. I have two girls and two boys. The girls always worked really hard, the boys just didn't. Exasperating to say the least!
Um, at least your sons didn't start doing 4 AS levels, end up doing 1 and feeling pleased that he got himself a C....
Roll on college in September, maybe training to be an electrician will sort him, cause I sure as hell can't.
Jay, I think there is a lot of truth in what you say about boys maturing later. Glad to hear how well yours are doing now.
John, I fear there is far too much truth in what you say!
YP, glad also to hear about your Ian.
Karen, your results sound bloody brilliant girl!
Thanks Jenny, my daughter works really. We females are just so sensible!
FP - lots of money to be made as an electrician. I hope it goes well for him.
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