Would u still do English (3 Viewers)

[missgrace91]

This is a good representation of what i was talking about, your English skills allowed you to interpret your own meaning and challenge my argument. Its that kind of interpretation and logic that allowed you to build a cohesive argument. Even though you didnt intend to, your paragraph was structured almost as an essay, you had your thesis, you provided a valid point and backed it up with examples.

English allows you to effectively communicate to others, even though the content may seem like its not going anywhere (i agree belonging is a crock of shit), but the skills you develop along the way will help you in life and in the real world.

could not have argued better myself

 

[sickk]

But should we not have attained this knowledge by year 10??? If we can leave in year this assumes that we should be able to communicate, it means we should be able to write a cohesive argument and be able to interpret meaning into argument!

I'd like to reiterate that i DO NOT agree with English counting towards ATAR, however i still stand by the fact that English should be compulsory. Yes you may leave school in year 10 with that level of English, however if you are going to use this argument then why continue on to tertiary studies? If your perfectly capable of being a productive member of society after year 10, then whats the point?

As a race, we should strive to further their education. If we were to just give up after year 10 where would we end up?

Im assuming here you are very maths inclined, do you do any humanities? I do business studies and ancient history and i find that the English course is very beneficial to the type of responses expected in those subjects. Again id like to refer to my previous post about logic and rational thinking.

Perhaps the only way to encourage people to take the English subject seriously is to make it compulsory, i know if it didnt count towards my ATAR i would not put in HALF the effort i do now. Its not ideal, but personally i think its essential.

having said that, everyone is entitled to their opinions and i respect that.

 

[missgrace91]

Exactly my point, what about the people who cant find these "Meanings" in the texts or dont have a creative imagination, they are subjected to SUBJECTIVE marking. Plus i fail to see why Joe the plumber, John the piolt, chris the chef, paul the electrician, bob the mechanic, James the rocket sceintist would ever need the knowledge of how to write essays, hiden meanings in texts, why hamlet was crazy and litterary techniques BUT they will all need maths

Joe the plumber, John the piolt, chris the chef, paul the electrician, bob the mechanic, James the rocket sceintist will all need resumes

and John the "piolt" might want to be a "pilot" one day

 

[ehtefaz.hedayet]

i would still have to do English regardless as Australia is an english spoken country but to choose it as an interest subject...... NEVER!!

 

[jameswillcox1]

By saying, "who exactly would find doing languages useful?" is almost the same as who cares about other cultures/languages/countries.

You have taken me out of context if you had read my statement i said FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE ENGLISH FOR 11 YEARS, not once did i mention other contries nor cultures. I am quite cultured my self I learn History and take part in many multicultural activities, I live in a multicultural society. I was stating why continue being forced do so something like English if you have allready studdyed it for 11 years when 11 years of studdying that language is more then sufficiant for most of the jobs out there. If you want to learn about culture do society and culture, if you were going to go to another country do other languages but the main focus of that statement was directed at ENGLISH as a LANGUAGE subject and seeing as ENGLSIH is the most widly used language of this contry and is the TOPIC of this thread what else would I be making comment to??

 

[Holly_H]

Hey there students of NSW!

If English was a non compulsory subject would you still chose it?? Do you believe that learning about Hamlet and literary techniques will help u in your life?? This is just a curious question to see how everyone feels about English as a subject

OR!!! Shoudl the English corse be reformed so that rather then all "Text apreciation as my teacher puts it" they should change it like maths and have the General corse for practical applications of English rather then text apreciation and have the Adv corse for the theoretical stuff

Yes, clearly you need English! Basic English, spelling and grammar should be the "course" focus. People seem to lack this in abundance.

 

[sickk]

C'mon lets not argue over this stuff, its a forum, people try to type fast to get their words in lol. Im sure he doesn't spell like that in real life

 

[kaz1]

Hell no! I would drop English straight away. The current syllabus is useless to real life and is boring as hell.

I would like the English syllabus to focus more on grammar, punctuation, spelling etc. rather than analysing (in other words bullshitting about) texts. But I would drop any form of English if it wasn't compulsory.

 

[keithmluk]

i finally found people that thinks the same as me!
English is such a useless subject that is no use in our future at all.....
even if its compulsory, it shouldnt have to be counted in the 10 units.. that is so unfair to people that is not good at english

 

[d3vilz]

only if they focused on the fundamental skills ie. grammar, spelling, etc.

 

[Holly_H]

C'mon lets not argue over this stuff, its a forum, people try to type fast to get their words in lol. Im sure he doesn't spell like that in real life

Sorry, but its driving me batty! I can't believe how bad most people type. I get the whole "type so fast to get their words out", but when readers can't even understand what those words are ...
People are posting threads full of English language errors whilst arguing that English should not be a compulsory subject. I mean C'mon, ironic much!

 

[jet]

I would still do it. I find it interesting, and i think it's better to do a wide range of subjects now.

If you are so worried about things such as grammar, spelling and text types, do Fundamentals of English.

 

[tanna]

Really? Not enough love for English!

Anyways, I still would do it - maybe it's the class, but we have some kick-ass philosophical discussions and I really quite enjoyed our texts this year. Though it may not be useful after high school, it's most definitely not the ONLY subject that people choose that won't be relevant to future career paths. Sure, brushing up on grammar would be useful but the bulk of that should've been learnt in previous years anyway. But yeah, I agree. Some focus on grammar would be nice. Not fun. But nice lol

Now religion - that is a subject that shouldn't be made compulsory in Catholic schools...

 

[sickk]

So many philistines.

 

[ashllis91]

Personally I enjoy English now but I HATED it with a passion until I got a new teacher for year 12. I believe that your teacher makes a lot of difference as to how enjoyable English is. Now that I have a new teacher, my average mark has risen by 25% which makes me like english even more

Despite that, I understand exactly how maths-science orientated people feel (because I am one) and I don't think it should be compulsory towards the ATAR. Some people (possibly a lot of people) simply aren't good at writing, analysing and evaluating texts and the board of studies SHOULD respect that rather than discriminate against them.

We can but dream.

 

[0hNivlek]

Maybe just the EE1 or EE2 courses not advanced lol.

 

[hollaholla]

look
some would
some would not.

I would not.

I would if the syllabus made more sense to me.

 

[Dombrovski]

Sadly enough, having done English, I would do it again... It is painful, but as it has been said, the bullshitting ability you can gain is amazing! And useful. Cynicism is a great gift, and English has reinforced that...

Also, I think that they (the Board) put it there so that people are forced, in a way, to look at the world in a different perspective... ie. so that people who just sit at home and study maths and science all day can look at things like art, and think for themselves....
It forces people to realise that there is more than one way of doing things. (I’m not saying that they can’t do this I’m saying that they are safeguarding against that)
I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would gladly go and do 4U Math and 6U of Sciences, and use that for their units. The board thinks this is inappropriate.

With English, to do it well, you generally need free thought, something which maths and sciences as a general whole, do not have. The ability to think outside the box is an important trait to attain.
Esp. if you want to go into things like scientific research!!!

I'm would assume that most people who do the HSC want to go to uni, and sorry to ruin the party, but YOU DO ESSAYS, you have to. If you simply "stop" writing essays in year ten, your ability will deteriorate. A lot.

For that lovely concept of context, I am doing a science degree, and I have a Law subject in it (amongst other things), and we have been told right from the off that if you simply regurgitate the study guide, you will be cut to ribbons. It is about free interpretation of the legal system.

By keeping English there, the Board is ensuring that there is no chance of whinging nerds coming up in uni and saying that “Our education was inadequate because we can’t write essays”. And I’m sure you can see that someone somewhere would try to do that?

People generally do advanced or standard, with ESL etc not being as common. This means the Board can... I guess gauge the year on its performance in English.

So in other words, with that, YES I would do English.... though I guess that if they forced you to do a humanity, like legal or business, that could work...?

Lol End Rant.

 

[mastermind666]

look
some would
some would not.

I would not.

I would if the syllabus made more sense to me.

hmm...i would perhaps do it (i doubt it) if it did not HAVE to count towards the ENTER (ATAR for you) only because english is about the ability to communicate

however, there is a certain point where (say the top 10%) a cluster of people can all communicate effectively and so ace english (in my opnion) and the only thing dividing these people is the amount of bullshit they can crop up for text responses

i dont have a problem with doing english, i only have a problem with it being the primary subject as the examination can never be made objective -> certain examiners favour certain styles (yes, i know it is cross marked). In other words, english is a wildcard. so why does a subject whose potential score is subject to luck and chance have the greatest weighting in the calculation of the ATAR? that is the problem i have.

for people who are aiming for ATAR's of 99.8 and above, english is the biggest wildcard - you just need to get lucky. that's the problem. when you get to the top 10% of students in english, it is basically the luck of the draw. that's the problem

 

[SideKick91]

I don't do hugely well in English, yet I would still have elected it as a subject if it were not compulsory. I don't enjoy it and I do agree that sometimes the 'apreciation' side of the studies really annoys me. I think it would be more beneficial if English teachers taught us what the subject is called: English, referring to the language and how to use that it our future careers. Words are a powerful weapon.