Education A-level Results and uni places- Good Luck!

Ok I've seen it mentioned in this thread and on the news, but can someone please tell we what an A- level in "Critical Thinking" is all about?????

 

Learning about arguments, mostly. It's instead of taking General Studies, and IMO everyone should take it in addition, because a lot of people lack common sense, and it would help them to develop those sorts of skills.

 

And it only needs a few lessons a week, and in my case had no work outside of lessons so could be considered to be a 'free' extra AS level.

 

I had no trouble getting places offered to me - Four out of five - And I got a BTEC (B/B/C equivilent final grade) in.. 2007?

I'm hardly the brightest button in the drawer, but still, no issues that I encountered. I think it's gonna be harder to get a part time job while I'm there tbh.

Edit: I'm doing the "Avoid getting a real job for three years", hopefully to come out of it in a better-ish market for work.

 

Ahh okay. Second query, don't/shouldn't the normal A levels and previous education cover learning about arguments and thinking critically?

 

I disagree - I did General Studies and most people I know did Critical Thinking in the first year.
In the second year we had a choice and one of those was PE.
PE was preferred by everyone and was far more beneficial in my view.

 

Possibly, but a lot of places for doing A-levels demand that you do either General Studies or Critical Thinking. Personally I'd do the latter, but it doesn't matter anyway imo - most universities don't accept them as a qualification.

 

@whisperwolf: no, unfortunately, a lot of departments/subjects don't teach you logical/rational reasoning skills; only what you need to pass the course. If you take a more fact/history/case study-based subject like psychology, sociology, history, geography, etc. rational, lucid thought isn't really a top priority - you just get pumped full of information which you then regurgitate in the exams and analyse in the coursework.

That's not to deprecate them as disciplines: you still learn a lot. Interesting stuff, too. They just don't go out of their way to teach you the skills of reasoning and argument that Critical Thinking and/or Philosophy do, and which are so useful in later life.

In a perfect world, we would be able to rely on parents to nurture those sorts of qualities in their kids, but I increasingly suspect that the vast majority of parents just let the TV do their work for them.

 

It makes sense, I was mostly trying to work out if it was a modern replacement for Philosophy A-level. but I see its another course designed to round out the otherwise often too narrowly focused A Level system.

 

Was chuffed today to hear my sister Faith, who did the Fable 2 Non-Gamer Review for the site a while back, managed to get AABB in her AS' today - with one B three marks off an A.

 

Well done to everybody who got their results. I dont want to find out what my GCSE's are.

 

Got into med school yesterday with 3 A's, so I'm over the moon. Time to break out the Xbox until October now.

Btw Mankz - what were your module scores? Want to compare ?

 

I think something like Critical Thinking (but perhaps with a slightly better name) should be compulsory for all high school students, all sixth-form students, and all university students. What's more important than being an educated and sensible member of the electorate (at least as far as society goes)? most people say (including my mates, family, etc) to the effect of "who needs to study it, I can do it already", yet will show in the very next sentence their complete lack of any concept of critical thinking.

 

I think it should be a core subject from the age of 11 tbh. Logical reasoning and thinking is far too rare these days.

 

I've started repping everyone who's taken exams this year (whole forum likely ) since I imagine you've all done your best and not procrastinated on bit the whole time!

It might take a few days to do everyone with the rep restrictions

Yep, and instead the 11 Y/Os around here get to sit the [sarcasm] simply marvelous and very educationally viable[/sarcasm] 11+!

 

Can I has rep too? I did 5 uni finals.

 

I will give you some, will take a while to rep the whole thread though.

 

What about uni exams? Those are way harder than simple A-levels?

 

Well it is three years of much more advanced stuff so they are harder, but you should be better prepered for them after going through uni.

 

QFT.