Is HSC English relevant?

[nayyarv]

My conclusion from my other poll is that people doing the HSC, even ext2 english students felt that the English syllabus is irrelevant

What are your thoughts - relevance, improvements etc.

eg. The difference between General and 2 unit is huge, while the diff between Adv and Std isn't very great. Should Standard focus more on fundamentals.

This is not a discussion on whether English till Yr 10 is important, which it is

This is not the discussion whether english should be Compulsory.

Fire away

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

yes. yes yes yes yes.
i say that, how ever, as a person who will one day become a history/english teacher, and the top performing student in my year in both english and histories. so, uh, im bias.

i accept that much fundamental life skills you gain from english, as you pointed out in the prior topic in reference to me, are indeed gained from 7-10.
however, the more practise, the greater the pressure, the better. where as in year 10, your speech was about homelessness or aids or youth-in-asia, and, no one gave two shits in the long run. year 11 and 12, you learn to deal with public speaking under pressure. everyone has thought, shit, shit, this ij speech is worth 30%, i better do well.
most jobs, yes, most jobs, will require you to speak, formally or informally, to a group of your peers. ffs, my mother is a bar maid and she does it on a weekly basis.

there is always room for improvement, but the current syllabus is huge, and any improvment would mean a radical reajustment of the whole thing. its the same with any subject really. you have alot to cover in the short months that are your hsc.

everyone, i beleive, is capable of doing well at english. some may have to work alot harder than others, but you can. it just requires removing the mental blockade of 'ihu english'.

hsc english ex is vastly different from 2unit, and its an excellent course in my view. i also find it so much easier, in terms of pressure, to perform in, because youre studying your module the whole of the hsc. none of this, journeys today, telling the truth tommorow.
crime fic. all day. everyday.



summing up, i love english because i do it well. i think its relevant, because i maintain it forces you to do well as the basic skills you acheived 7-10 which when you move through uni and into the workforce, i feel, and have been told, are very important.

 

[russianROULETTE]

it is relevant in that analytical skills are important for ALL subjects and also later life, and that is what English teaches us. also how to write in/understand different text types.

i'm not saying the syllabus couldn't be more relevant than it is, because it could. but it is still relevant.

like Jachie said, we get the point. you're not good at english so you have a biased vendetta. instead of whinging about it on the internet, which will accomplish nothing, do something. get a tutor, ask questions when you don't understand, spend time analysing related texts etc

 

[tambourine]

yes. yes yes yes yes.
i say that, how ever, as a person who will one day become a history/english teacher, and the top performing student in my year in both english and histories. so, uh, im bias.

i accept that much fundamental life skills you gain from english, as you pointed out in the prior topic in reference to me, are indeed gained from 7-10.
however, the more practise, the greater the pressure, the better. where as in year 10, your speech was about homelessness or aids or youth-in-asia, and, no one gave two shits in the long run. year 11 and 12, you learn to deal with public speaking under pressure. everyone has thought, shit, shit, this ij speech is worth 30%, i better do well.
most jobs, yes, most jobs, will require you to speak, formally or informally, to a group of your peers. ffs, my mother is a bar maid and she does it on a weekly basis.

there is always room for improvement, but the current syllabus is huge, and any improvment would mean a radical reajustment of the whole thing. its the same with any subject really. you have alot to cover in the short months that are your hsc.

everyone, i beleive, is capable of doing well at english. some may have to work alot harder than others, but you can. it just requires removing the mental blockade of 'ihu english'.

hsc english ex is vastly different from 2unit, and its an excellent course in my view. i also find it so much easier, in terms of pressure, to perform in, because youre studying your module the whole of the hsc. none of this, journeys today, telling the truth tommorow.
crime fic. all day. everyday.



summing up, i love english because i do it well. i think its relevant, because i maintain it forces you to do well as the basic skills you acheived 7-10 which when you move through uni and into the workforce, i feel, and have been told, are very important.

Are you the top performing student in english at the moment? Or did you mean that you will become it one day?

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

Are you the top performing student in english at the moment? Or did you mean that you will become it one day?

i meant i will be (hopefully) a history or english teacher one day

i am the top performining student in english at the moment

 

[Foxodi]

While practice and that is important in improving your english skills, ultimately I think the time used for english in the later years could be put to much better use else where. Ultimately (for our school anyway) we spend most of the time going through the texts, techniques, ideas etc and prob only practice writing 1-3 essays per a text... Spending 200+ hours or w/e to write a few essays? Please, just let us write the essays at home in our own time so we don't have to do the subject.

 

[ltewierik90]

Sure english is relavent its the language we all speak and is neccesary to learn the skills that come with it. On a point made by the OP, i think that standard english should focus more on fundamentals, alot like 2unit and general maths where there is a huge gap in whats learnt, english seems to have alot more similarity between standard and advanced. I personally hate standard english its rediculous to be analysing texts in depth and more focus should be placed on basic english skills like grammar, punctuation and spelling

 

[ccc123]

My conclusion from my other poll is that people doing the HSC, even ext2 english students felt that the English syllabus is irrelevant

What are your thoughts - relevance, improvements etc.

eg. The difference between General and 2 unit is huge, while the diff between Adv and Std isn't very great. Should Standard focus more on fundamentals.

This is not a discussion on whether English till Yr 10 is important, which it is

This is not the discussion whether english should be Compulsory.

Fire away

Like I said before, I think there should be two separate English subjects:


a) A generic 'English' which emphasises practical skills that will benefit everyone regardless of career aspirations

and

b) A course called 'English literature' or 'English analysis' that entails all the things we do now in English.


I think this would solve a lot of the current contentions.

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

Like I said before, I think there should be two separate English subjects:


a) A generic 'English' which emphasises practical skills that will benefit everyone regardless of career aspirations

and

b) A course called 'English literature' or 'English analysis' that entails all the things we do now in English.


I think this would solve a lot of teh current complaints.

that would probably solve alot of whining.

 

[melanieeeee.]

I do 4U, but even I can agree that most of what I'm learning will do jack all for my future career/life. But that's the same with most subjects. Maths, why the hell would anyone ever need to use calculus. Legal, well I want to do law, so maybe a little. Visual arts, once it would have, because originally I wanted to be an art/english teacher, but now, there's no point. Chemistry, yeah, I can definately see myself thinking sometime in the future "You know what, I've always wondered why coke gets less fizzy when its warm, oh wait I do! Le Chatelier's prinicple!" pfff... yeah right

So really, the hsc is one massive waste of time. But stop your whinging and get over it.

Yeah I agree the HSC does nothing for your career,

better off dropping out ---> going to TAFE ---> use TAFE qualification to get into uni

EDIT: btw i am being fully serious.

 

[tambourine]

i meant i will be (hopefully) a history or english teacher one day

i am the top performining student in english at the moment

Interesting...

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

Interesting...

meaning?

 

[tambourine]

yes. yes yes yes yes.
i say that, how ever, as a person who will one day become a history/english teacher, and the top performing student in my year in both english and histories. so, uh, im bias.

i accept that much fundamental life skills you gain from english, as you pointed out in the prior topic in reference to me, are indeed gained from 7-10.
however, the more practise, the greater the pressure, the better. where as in year 10, your speech was about homelessness or aids or youth-in-asia, and, no one gave two shits in the long run. year 11 and 12, you learn to deal with public speaking under pressure. everyone has thought, shit, shit, this ij speech is worth 30%, i better do well.
most jobs, yes, most jobs, will require you to speak, formally or informally, to a group of your peers. ffs, my mother is a bar maid and she does it on a weekly basis.

there is always room for improvement, but the current syllabus is huge, and any improvment would mean a radical reajustment of the whole thing. its the same with any subject really. you have alot to cover in the short months that are your hsc.

everyone, i beleive, is capable of doing well at english. some may have to work alot harder than others, but you can. it just requires removing the mental blockade of 'ihu english'.

hsc english ex is vastly different from 2unit, and its an excellent course in my view. i also find it so much easier, in terms of pressure, to perform in, because youre studying your module the whole of the hsc. none of this, journeys today, telling the truth tommorow.
crime fic. all day. everyday.



summing up, i love english because i do it well. i think its relevant, because i maintain it forces you to do well as the basic skills you acheived 7-10 which when you move through uni and into the workforce, i feel, and have been told, are very important.

There's more..but you get my point.

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

There's more..but you get my point.

so much typing indicates my desire and aptitude for a certain career or my ability to acheive high ranking?

ok.
sorry, but it seems a little trivial

typos are typos, and im fairly sure most people type differently to how they handwrite.

 

[tambourine]

I know that you have the desire..hence my late reply. I think it's inspirational actually and so I was hesitant to point them out. I wish I liked english as much as you do.

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

i can be a bit agressive. re reading my previous response i have to apologise. im just not used to having silly things pointed out. if i make mistakes, i make big ones.

i just.. love english and history. i would write and analyse and study and explain and hold study groups til the cows come home. i cant really explain why. i wish i could, because maybe more people would see it my way.

 

[tambourine]

Sometimes I feel like I love it..when I get good marks and participate in class or even when my teacher keeps asking me to read my responses and says that something I wrote was very good or even excellent...but most of the time I don't like it because I can't seem to write the essay from the holidays that I have yet to write lol. It's a journey in itself for me...but a very frustrating one lol

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

well you need to explain that to your teacher when you are stuggling to get stuff out. encouragment is an important part of succeeding in english, especially when you dont enjoy it 100%. try giving you teacher things to read and mark that arent homework. the positive feedback combined with constructive criticism will really make you feel alot better about you efforts.

 

[calagain]

anyone that wants to can top english and it is relevant, why do you keep making threads like this?

last year my essays were at best a 9/15 and i just topped advanced the half yearly with a score of above 90, just get over it and accept that you have to do it. it takes a little work but you can improve a hell of a lot if you want to.

 

[sonyaleeisapixi]

if that was in reference to me, i didnt start the thread.
*shrug*