Cat Using toilet and toilet paper

"Yowie" wrote in message
...

snip a tale of a young girl studying a traditional 'boys only'
subject

...our stories show just how much effect teachers - both good
and bad - can have on people's lives long into adulthood.

At my secondary comprehensive ("high") school, we had to make
choices at aged 14 (for me, that was in 1975) about what subjects
to study to GCE O' Level or CSE (the standard qualifications, at
the time, for 16-y-o's in the UK). These choices were
constrained by the timetable planners, and some subjects were
compulsory.

It was compulsory to study English, Mathematics, at least one
science, and one foreign language. The 'options' usually forced
the boys to take one of three technical subjects as well
(Technical Drawing, Metalwork, Woodwork). The timetable planner
(yes, ONE teacher!) hadn't even considered there may be some
pupils (such as my older brother) who were absolutely useless at
the technical subjects, but were also very bright and got
excellent results in academic subjects. My brother was the first
to force a change in this rule, and was able to study all
academic subjects instead. A friend of mine wanted to become a
dentist - which meant he would have to take three sciences
(chemistry, physics, biology) - but Mrs. Annan, who planned the
timetable, had never even considered the possibility that a pupil
from our school would be bright enough or have enough ambition to
study those three subjects. Fortunately, his mother was also a
teacher at the school (she taught Remedial English for pupils who
had problems with literacy), and was able to force some changes
to allow this as a possible choice.

So yes, indeed, teachers have a great influence (both good and
bad). At 16, it's just not possible for a young adult to
understand exactly how many different careers are available, and
teacher's advice tends to stick with traditional options - such
as engineering, banking, nursing, etc...

--
MatSav



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