Should English qualifications exist?

[pipnina]

I have Asperger syndrome. For me it makes interpreting things in a way that isn't "literal" (best way I can think of to explain it) very difficult. This causes me no end of problems when it comes to English qualifications.

As you know, you need an English qualification to get anywhere in life- very few places will accept you for higher education or a job if you don't have at least a grade C. I failed my (UK) GCSE English and have to retake it as a "Functional skills" course along side my A-level "equivalent" IT course. I got B grades on my coursework (it was writing from the perspective of a person in a book, only did that well because I did something that seemed obvious to me but wasn't expected until A-level. It took a lot of pushing) but I failed my exam (U grade- ungraded) giving me an E overall.

 

Now, these exams are dumb, hideously dumb. They contain questions like "State 3 things Will.I.Am says he enjoys about life in Barbados" or "List the features that the writer uses to help get their point across". In the former, I would never find all three, I just wouldn't see them as individual things or not high enough praise- something would always not qualify certain parts to be an acceptable answer in my head. In the latter, they seem to not understand the question that they wrote: "List the features that the writer uses to help get their point across" Apparently that means "Heading and subheadings", "Columns" and "Paragraphs" count as features that help a writer make a point. That makes 0 sense to me, as it's purely aesthetic!

 

Then there was a question on one of my functional skills practice papers, about finding bias in pieces of text. Even the teacher agreed with me that some of the acceptable answers on the marking sheet weren't actually examples of bias at all, and you needed to list at least one of them to get all of the marks on that question. 

 

Combine the fact that these exams are complete nonsense with the fact that you can read, write and speak English perfectly fine without these qualifications makes me feel like they shouldn't exist at all. Why study what is basically an art subject? Why make that art qualification mandatory? Lest we forget that the GCSE also includes writing about and analysing books, things like "We can infer that <insert author here> was trying to imply <insert implications here> because of <insert petty thing here>" Apparently to get on in life you need to be able to analyse Shakespeare and Of Mice and Men. Those skills are also prioritized over learning proper grammar: Colons, semi-colons, commas, homophones etc.

 

Sure, we need to be taught our own language at schools- it's too complicated to get completely by inferring. But do we really need it to be a qualification? And one that is almost entirely not based around knowing how to write?

 

    ~pip

 

(p.s. it's 1:30 in England land right now, I'll look back here in the morning *snore snore*) 

[xentropa]

English is important.  But not important enough to pursue as a major in College.

[GamerDude]

I took GP and English at 'A' Levels many, many moons back......while GP was a breeze, 'A' Level English wasn't just an exam on one's English comprehension skill, it was actually English Literature. I was supposed to be able to infer (aka bullshit my way) from a given passage/text as to what the author was writing about, and perhaps his/her thoughts on the subject matter (and also what circumstances the poems were written). Damn, I hated it with a passion! Then there's the section on poetry, like I should be able to analyse and understand what the poets were writing about and their feelings/thought on the poems. These I hated even more with a fiery passion!

 

I understand OP's point though, English exams can be so frustrating in that what is expected of us isn't quite required in real life. Much like Maths, which I also hate with a passion, learning calculus may be great for separating 'men' from 'boys' so to say, but isn't really needed in real life. Of course, when one's taking a course where higher level maths is required, then yes, by all means. For me, I don't recall a time in my 30+ years life after my school days where I had to resort to my mad Calculus skill ('mad' because I suck so badly at it) to solve a real life problem.

[laminutederire]

@pipnina

Welcome to our world of injustice. School systems around the world often don't take people medical conditions into account, and just keep on separating those who are different to others, even though it isn't well deserved at all.

 

@GamerDude if that can reassure you,  maths is its own non-subjectve language

[GamerDude]

Sometimes, the inability to master a language, be it first or a second language, can really hamper one's advancement for further studies. I have a friend whose son could not master a 2nd language (being Mandarin) though he was outstanding in Maths (took both Further and College Maths at 'A' Level), Physics and English. Due to his 2nd language handicap, he wasn't allowed to go to the top local university, or any local university for the matter as a 2nd language pass was a pre-requisite. 

 

Fortunately, my friend was wealthy enough to send him abroad, to study in a university in Michigan for a degree in Industrial Engineering. The guy graduated Suma for Chrissakes! Yet, he wasn't 'good' enough for the local university! Go figure!

[pipnina]

4 hours ago, GamerDude said:

I took GP and English at 'A' Levels many, many moons back......while GP was a breeze, 'A' Level English wasn't just an exam on one's English comprehension skill, it was actually English Literature. I was supposed to be able to infer (aka bullshit my way) from a given passage/text as to what the author was writing about, and perhaps his/her thoughts on the subject matter (and also what circumstances the poems were written). Damn, I hated it with a passion! Then there's the section on poetry, like I should be able to analyse and understand what the poets were writing about and their feelings/thought on the poems. These I hated even more with a fiery passion!

 

I understand OP's point though, English exams can be so frustrating in that what is expected of us isn't quite required in real life. Much like Maths, which I also hate with a passion, learning calculus may be great for separating 'men' from 'boys' so to say, but isn't really needed in real life. Of course, when one's taking a course where higher level maths is required, then yes, by all means. For me, I don't recall a time in my 30+ years life after my school days where I had to resort to my mad Calculus skill ('mad' because I suck so badly at it) to solve a real life problem.

I couldn't even get to the A-level English, I failed my GCSE with an E overall and haven't managed to pass my functional skills level 2 (a step below the GCSE) either.

 

I would agree with the maths statement, calculus isn't needed for a lot of people, but at a GCSE level it should be an option people can take even if people aren't forced to do it.

4 hours ago, laminutederire said:

@pipnina

Welcome to our world of injustice. School systems around the world often don't take people medical conditions into account, and just keep on separating those who are different to others, even though it isn't well deserved at all.

 

@GamerDude if that can reassure you,  maths is its own non-subjectve language

This isn't even about schools, the government's policy in the UK is that you have to have an english qualification, preferably a GCSE by the time you're 19. And you can't go anywhere without it (jobs, uni, even btec courses).

 

 

[Mug]

I don't think that English exams are nonsense at all. I also don't think they are hard enough. Most people don't even know when to use the right homophones and don't know when something is a prefix or its own word.

 

I'd personally make them much harder but lower the pass mark, maybe making it a grade or two harder but making sure that anyone that can dribble and spell their own name can still get a grade in which they can progress in life.

 

I'd also like to say that English at grade C isn't essential for many jobs, even in IT.

[vanished]

In roles where it matters, being fluent and having proper grammar and all that are very important, and it makes sense that there would be tests designed to evaluate how people do in those areas, and it makes sense that for some roles, doing well in those tests should be a requirement.

 

But, by the sounds of it, the tests you are describing are not that at all, and are instead more like what you'd do if taking English as part of an arts major, and as such I have to agree that no job I can think of should require such a thing (unless the job is literally analysing Shakespeare xd)

[deWaardt]

There is Dutch exams over here in the Netherlands.

 

There is only one issue:
Even the Dutch teachers can't make them properly.

[pipnina]

24 minutes ago, Mug said:

I don't think that English exams are nonsense at all. I also don't think they are hard enough. Most people don't even know when to use the right homophones and don't know when something is a prefix or its own word.

 

I'd personally make them much harder but lower the pass mark, maybe making it a grade or two harder but making sure that anyone that can dribble and spell their own name can still get a grade in which they can progress in life.

 

I'd also like to say that English at grade C isn't essential for many jobs, even in IT.

But those things aren't even taught in UK English GCSEs! (The highest mandatory level) Refer to my original post to see the actual content of the exams and courses.

18 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

In roles where it matters, being fluent and having proper grammar and all that are very important, and it makes sense that there would be tests designed to evaluate how people do in those areas, and it makes sense that for some roles, doing well in those tests should be a requirement.

 

But, by the sounds of it, the tests you are describing are not that at all, and are instead more like what you'd do if taking English as part of an arts major, and as such I have to agree that no job I can think of should require such a thing (unless the job is literally analysing Shakespeare xd)

If English qualifications were purely grammar based, I would be much happier. I still disagree with exams being necessary, though. 

[iDeFecZx]

1 hour ago, Mug said:

I'd also like to say that English at grade C isn't essential for many jobs, even in IT.

Tbf, even IT isnt required. Aslong as you can prove you know what your doing 

[Mug]

9 minutes ago, pipnina said:

But those things aren't even taught in UK English GCSEs! (The highest mandatory level) Refer to my original post to see the actual content of the exams and courses.

If English qualifications were purely grammar based, I would be much happier. I still disagree with exams being necessary, though. 

I know what's in the exams - I did GCSEs too. Then again, I only sat 'higher' papers and I did them about 7 years ago so it's probably changed significantly.

 

Thing is that you can still go on to lead a perfectly good life without English GCSE. It's only at the bigger workplaces that you'll struggle to get a job; in my workplace of ~50 people, nobody has below a grade B in English, Maths and Science and everyone has a degree of some sort.