6th form for the smart and college for thick people ?

Robbod said:
Hi,

I was always lead to believe that post GCSE`s that if you are smart/intelligent you went to/stayed at school and went to 6th form.

But if you were thick/stupid and can`t count to 2 you went to college.

Whats your view ?
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I went to college (in late 90s ) as I couldn't get I.T. based learning after my GCSE's at my very good secondary school. I did GNVQ'S Level 2 and 3 then proceeded to go to University already armed with a much better understanding of computers/programming than my secondary school/6th form. It also was a much closer to University style than 6th form.

The majority of my friends went on to University and are successful. There were some drop outs and idiots at college, but then there were some right spanners at University as well.

I had significantly more fun at college than I ever would have had a 6th form. I look back on my college days fondly.
 
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I'd say it also doesn't matter in the slightest when your applying for jobs. Qualifications and experience, not if you did 6th year or not. Although 6th year was something you were just expected to do when I went through it.
 
Semple said:
Was it? It sounds like only you were lead to believe that.

To me 6th form always seemed a bit immature, it was essentially just an extension of secondary school - did you still have to wear a school uniform? Did you still have to refer to the teachers as Mr/Miss/Mrs? Did you still have to ask to go to the toilet? Were you given the freedoms of skipping lessons, or leaving early etc.

College was more about treating you as an adult, and letting you make your own decisions on your education. I guess less so nowadays as I believe it's mandatory to be in FTE until 18?
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I went to college
Semple said:
It seems evident based on your replies and a few others that were discussing college/6th form in the 80s and 90s that it's a generational thing.

It's certainly not been thought that way since the year 2000.
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I guess where i grew up was abit behind the times
 
That was kind of the perception I had growing up but it was biased a bit by the fact that the local grammar schools were the two top academic performers in the county, so they were inherently perceived as having high standards. It was also just sort of expected that everyone at my school would do A-levels at 6th form and then go to university unless they had bad discipline or were underperforming a lot.

A good friend of mine started 6th form but then fairly quickly dropped out of one subject (he didn't really get on with the teaching style although I never really probed that deeply in the rationale) and went to study it in the local college instead. Seemed to work out well for him and gave him a better life experience although it was a bit of an logistical challenge having to move between premises.
 
BowdonUK said:
What about if its a 6th form college?
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Same thing really, quite a few secondary schools where I grew up didn't have 6th forms so there was a central 6th form college offering A-levels and a separate "technical college" offering vocational stuff.

I had a part-time job in a local pub during 6th form and had to help train a guy studying for an NVQ at the technical college, it's not like I had any formal training myself but meh... I'd never met anyone as thick as he was. It was painful trying to work with him, he wasn't just thick but he was badly coordinated, just teaching him to chop veg and prep salads etc. was a nightmare. Getting him to learn the uses of different coloured chopping boards took several shifts. Oh and one time, after working there for a while already, he turned up wearing gloves, apparently he had some skin condition that meant he should have been wearing them the whole time while handling food. :eek:
 
It all comes down to what you want to study, as sixth forms usually have a limited selection of subjects that they teach. They are usually the core subjects Where’s a college will have larger range of subjects. If you want me up doing anything technical you end up at a college.
I did 4 years at a college, 1 day a week apart of my apprenticeship and came out with a HNC in electrical engineering. Could have bumped it to a HND, but didn’t want to do the extra year.
Now that I thinking about back when I had to make the choice 20+ years ago. My high school put along the line if you want to go uni, sixth form is the place to study and college if you wanted a trade.
 
OP is clearly special, I could not have thought of anything worse than staying in 6th form, when I could I to college and learn the specific things I wanted
 
Haggisman said:
College by far, a lot more hands on, and a much more adult environment than school
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That was my experience too.

I went to a prestigious Grammar school in the 80's that had a 6th form and it was unthinkable that anyone would leave there to go to a college. But I had never got on with the overbearingly disciplined level of the school and couldn't wait to leave - they couldn't wait for me to go either! :cry:

But the decision was vindicated as I flourished at college due to the more adult environment and vastly outperformed most of my friends who stayed at the sixth form.
 
During the 90s there was no sixth form at any of the secondary schools in the region or any proper central sixth form only a couple of exclusive type schools had them. College was the only option for most, later in the early 2000s a few sixth forms appeared but generally considered an inferior option to one of the better colleges in the area.
 
dowie said:
Getting him to learn the uses of different coloured chopping boards took several shifts.
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Were they more or less than £15 a set? We need to know.

College was not for thickos. Yes there were courses in practical bricklaying and plumbing (before Poles were invented) but also ordinary and higher national diplomas and certificates in various engineering briefs which overlapped to University courses when I was at college.
Students could also attend day release with a good employer and be earning a wage as well as technical knowledge. The practical and theory combination was more often superior to any three A levels over two year candidates at school. I suppose all that I have written is superceded in today's world.

Of course those with any degree look down on the degree-less, and those with two degrees look down on those with just one. The gods with a Masters thrown in... T'was ever thus and shall remain.

Me: Ordinary National Certificate in Construction earned on day release from Wigan and Mining Technical College 1974-76.
 
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I went to college for a year, by the time I was 21 I was a team leader training graduates and earning about £5k more than they were, I made enough to retire by the time I was 38. Does that make me thick?

I know loads of people with degrees that never used them and still work a 9-5 now in jobs they hate. I'm struggling to see the "intelligence" in that.
 
I‘ve used exactly one part of all the electrical and electronic theory I learned in my BTEC HNC in the 45 years hence and that was balancing the load on a 3 phase generator.
 
Excellent, I am now of an age where I can behave like a cantankerous old colonel in Midsommer Murders.

In my day, we got rid of the chaff at 16 to college, then post 6th form it was forces or university - no choices!
 
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