SOFT subjects (the easy way out) . Your thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[squeenie]

Dear friends,

I don't really understand why some of you typed things like "this thread is retarded. Kill it dead. twice". Are you against free thought? There are hundreds of utterly banal, mind-numbingly boring and totally stupid threads on this godforsaken site. If I do say so myself, I think this is one of the most sophisticated threads on boredofstudies.org.

You think that because you're sitting way up on a high horse that you can't seem to get off. BOS is not just for school and university discussion, and people do have lives outside of that, believe it or not.

In this thread, I have noticed a lot of unfounded personal attacks, from people who believe they are more intelligent than I, and so forth. (Note that I spelt 'forth' correctly this time. Correcting people really does work!)
We seem to be forgetting that nobody really cares about the UAI. We will be posted (or texted) our results, then we may then cry about our low UAI or sink many cones in celebration of receiving a hight UAI. Even if we don't get into a sandstone university, I'm fairly sure we can either transfer to the course of our dreams. The only other time the UAI will crop up in conversation is when we apply for a job. Even then, many employers place much more emphasis on university marks and indeed emotional intelligence.
I would like to think that a UAI is worth more if it is achieved through studying respectable subjects though. I know that if I were looking at the CV of a prospective employee, I saw their UAI was 99.95, and also noted that this was achieved thought Drama, Biology, Geography, Textiles and General Maths, it would not be worth much at all in my mind.

In your mind, yes. But not everyone thinks that, you know. What if those subjects were actually relevant to the job to which they were applying? Why would someone spend unnecessary effort on subjects like Physics and Chemistry if all they wanted was an Arts Degree?

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even get to the interview stage, because I would hope that my employees would know how to factorise a quadratic equation, at least. I don't even know what line of work I'll get into, but that I know for sure. In fact, I doubt that it's even possible to get 99.95 with the aforementioned subjects. Also, I would subconsciously devalue a high UAI if it were obtained through the study of, say, 4U English, 5U History and 2U Studies of Religion. Not only because I think religion (Buddhism excluded, of course) is a crock of shit, but because that does not represent a good spread of academia. None of the humanities are prerequisites for any university course, and those who think they will have an advantage because they currently study a subject that may be useful to their desired course are deluded, because tertiary education is so far removed from secondary education.

I don't believe in, or follow any religions, but that doesn't mean that I don't have any respect for them. You'd better watch what you say, or the resident BOS fundies will come after you.

And I don't think you should be dismissing the humanities, either. Even if the content was irrelevant for tertiary education, the skills they teach (essay writing skills, skills in debate and argument, etc) are. Whether you see that these subjects teach these skills or not is entirely up to you.

So, comrades, continue to post on this thread if you are a free thinker. I don't care if you despise me and my floral prose. If you can put your hate into a well crafted and logical response, I will give you credit. I am not a 'troll'; I just want you all to react and start thinking for yourselves. I thank you all for contributing up until this point.

This is 2008, not 1984. There is no need to use the word 'comrade'. And what makes you think that people here cannot think for themselves? Not everyone here is a mindless conformist, you know.

That doesn't diminish the fact that I don't think anybody so far has expressed their opinion with anything approaching enough eloquence or flair. All the same, to all those people who want this thread closed down or whatever because they feel personally insulted that their subject choice may be fitting for a retard, I think you should get back to watching videos of Sarah Palin's speech and posting on extreme right-wing forums. Clearly you can't dig freedom of expression. Maybe you should work out how to program your fancy calculator to complete the greater part of your General Maths exam for you. (Here's a dandy little observation: the 'mathematicians' who are allowed the most sophisticated calculators are not, on average, mentally capable of taking full advantage of them!)

So what, does that make me an exception to your generalisation? I own a Casio fx-570ES, and I can make use of all of its features.

Yes, freedom of expression is good, but you do realise there are restrictions to it, especially on private property (like this website). Just because you think that certain subjects are only suitable for 'retards' as you have put it, it does not mean that you can devalue them like you have throughout this thread. If you support freedom of speech, then you'd also support freedom of opinion, and respect other people's opinions, whether you agree with them or not.

Edit: Also, a consequence of freedom of speech is that your opinions can be subjected to scrutiny. I accept that there will be someone who will disagree with me, and I'm not going to complain about it, because I know that not everyone shares my opinion, and I'll respect that, as long as they don't try to impose their opinions on to me.

Oh, and HSC mathematics is the most formulaic (no pun intended) subject ever. It does not allow scope for real intellectualism. It just measures how many damn questions you have done and how adept you are at recognising their paradigms.

So are you saying that Mathematics is all just rote learning? What about Mathematics Extension 2? What do you have to say about that?

English Advanced is not about rote learning because the subject can't really be mastered, no matter how many fools out there claim to have scored full marks with pre-prepared essays and 'creative' responses. I hope to God that your papers are marked by somebody with more than half a brain who recognises formulaic essays and hackneyed 'creative' responses. Sadly, I don't think the poor saps who have to mark the HSC are Australia's best and brightest... Oh, I also think that English Advanced is one of the softer subjects around. I think it's a joke that it's called the 'Advanced' course. Its name should be changed to English Standard, and English Standard should be renamed as General English. But what's in a name, anyway?

So are you saying that you can't have a respectable study program unless you have at least English Extension in there? What about ESL students? I know some people who have done ESL, and have done quite well in their HSC. If you support freedom of speech so much, the surely you also support equal opportunity for all?

I do Standard English because English is not my strongest point. My strengths lie in Mathematics and in the sciences. Is that such a problem in your view?

Finally, I thank all those who agree with me. Not because I am a bigot, but becasue these are the only people who put any effort into crafting intelligent responses to the OP. The dissenters, for the most part, relied on insulting me personally and clichés to achieve their purpose.

They are not clichés, they are the truth. Whether you want to accept that or not is your problem, no-one else's.

Anyway, I wish you all a beautiful weekend. And please, continue to post on my ingenious thread.

And there is no need to act as though you own this place.

I realise that you despise 'soft' subjects, but is there really a need to devalue them so vocally? Do you only respect those who do 'non-soft' subjects, and look down upon those who do 'soft' subjects?

I know some people who dropped out of school at the end of year 10, but they now out there achieving their lifelong dreams, and even generously giving up some of their time to do charity work. What would you have to say about them?

 

[Groucho Marxist]

Astounded at this extremely elaborate troll.

 

[squeenie]

Astounded at this extremely elaborate troll.

I'm just as astounded as you are... What kind of person uses such floral speech in everyday life? Couldn't they just say it normally?

 

[Mind-Revolution]

Simply a tragic and insecure being. Entertaining though.

 

[cannibal.horse]

Also, I would subconsciously devalue a high UAI if it were obtained through the study of, say, 4U English, 5U History and 2U Studies of Religion. Not only because I think religion (Buddhism excluded, of course) is a crock of shit, but because that does not represent a good spread of academia. None of the humanities are prerequisites for any university course, and those who think they will have an advantage because they currently study a subject that may be useful to their desired course are deluded, because tertiary education is so far removed from secondary education.

Holy fucking Christ you are a stupid piece of shit, shown by your complete ignorance of religion and devalueing of the humanities. Just because it isn't a 'prequisite for any university course' doesn't mean its valueless, you do extension french for fucks sake, apart from one arts major (french language) what the fuck is that a prequisite for?

My guess is you're one of those fucks who doesn't cope with the regular HSC syllabus so constantly whinges about how 'the education system has failed' to meet your standards of 'higher order thinking'. Get a fucking life, if its that easy shut up and fucking study it.

I also notice your half arsed attempt at keeping your language elevated. Let me assure you, your use of microsoft word and online dictionaries is just plain wanky.

 

[sarahdee]

this whole "soft" subject concept is really condescending. some people do subjects because they like them. not just because they want to do easy ones. i do legal, eco, pdhpe, ext eng, ext maths, maths and eng adv. so does that mean i do soft subjects? cause everyone has posted how legal, eco and pdh are soft. i dont think they are. people's brains are programmed differently. some people are science-y (not me) or english minded etc etc and hence subjects are based on difficulty to what we are programmed to. i cant do science to save me, yet im coming first in all of my other subjects. seriously, get over yourself those people who think they are top cause they do science and 4u maths. soft subjects aren't done just because they are the easy way out! and if people aren't capable of doing these so called "hard" subjects, how dare you pay them out about it. talk about arrogance.

 

[Kirsty Xx]

I now look even more forward to completing my HSC, and beating the likes of you - 'soft' subjects or not.

Dignity still intact.

 

[addikaye03]

A few people have said PD/H/PE is "soft"- i say GET FUCKED. PD/H/PE is known to have one of the biggest content of any subject.. i think u are all very ignorant.

 

[Hello2U2]

Comrades, in case you don't know what I mean, a soft subject is one that is very easy compared to other, 'hard subjects'. (e.g. any extension course, sciences excluding biology, etc...)

People choose them, despite their woeful scaling, thinking they can ace them so it doesn't matter. But it does. You lose your man/womanhood. You do your country a dishonour by reinforcing the stereotype that this is a land of slack anti-intellectual drinkers.

Now don't get me wrong, there are some people who genuinely deserve to do soft subjects. For example, if English isn't your first language, it's fine to do the Standard course. But if you've living in an anglophonic country for your whole life and you do the Standard course and you're not mentally impaired... well, I'm fighting hard not to write expletives.
A list of soft subjects, for those who are a little confused:
-- General maths
-- English Standard
-- Legal Studies. Oh yes.
-- Studies of Religion
-- Geography
-- Business Studies
-- Biology
-- All those accredited subjects or whatever, like sheet metal working.
-- anything else that strikes you as a subject for people with undersized brains.

Now, granted, I am trying to be at least a bit inflammatory, but, my good people, what are your thoughts on these soft subjects and the ninnies who do them? (They're off the hook if they have some sort of mental impairment, God bless them).
Should we force them to do real subjects like physics and maths, and English extension? (Though physics is slowly becoming more and more like a humanity subject).

Go fourth and express your important opinion.

You are both arrogant and ignorant.

You're assuming everybody doing the HSC gives a crap about scaling and getting 99.999999999999999999999. (exaggeration, i know). The reality is, a lot of people couldn't care less about scaling. All they want is to do their best, get into the uni course they want (if they're getting a UAI).

So what if people chose not to do the subjects you hold in such high regard? Not everyone wants to follow a career path in the maths/sciences etc.. That does not necessarily make them lazy or unproductive.

Why would people do the so called 'hard subjects' if they hold no interest for them whatsover? Sciences/Maths are boring subjects to me, thus I don't take them. The so called 'Soft' subjects are extremely interesting to me, so I take them.

And just so you know, I do both 'soft' and 'hard' subects (3u english, 3u history, cafs and soc) and I can tell you right now the major works in soc and cafs was harder to do than anything I experienced in the course content of english and history.

 

[HisNameIsChris]

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even get to the interview stage, because I would hope that my employees would know how to factorise a quadratic equation, at least. I don't even know what line of work I'll get into, but that I know for sure. In fact, I doubt that it's even possible to get 99.95 with the aforementioned subjects. Also, I would subconsciously devalue a high UAI if it were obtained through the study of, say, 4U English, 5U History and 2U Studies of Religion. Not only because I think religion (Buddhism excluded, of course) is a crock of shit, but because that does not represent a good spread of academia. None of the humanities are prerequisites for any university course, and those who think they will have an advantage because they currently study a subject that may be useful to their desired course are deluded, because tertiary education is so far removed from secondary education..

I would like to think that a UAI is worth more if it is achieved through studying respectable subjects though. I know that if I were looking at the CV of a prospective employee, I saw their UAI was 99.95, and also noted that this was achieved thought Drama, Biology, Geography, Textiles and General Maths, it would not be worth much at all in my mind.

This guy seems to be under the impression that employers look at UAIs when deciding who to hire. LOL is all I can say. LOL. They look at your previous experience, they look at what courses you did at University, they ask you questions specific to the job (usually not academic questions unless it is a highly academically intensive subject).

The quadratic equation part was epic. It was when I read that, that I decided this is either the most epic troll ever to grace boredofstudies or one of the most ignorant and arrogant people I've ever seen in my life.

 

[cannibal.horse]

Hey I'm noticing something...

Whilst I think this kid is a moron because he's attacking academic disiplines which have been highly regarded for hundreds of years (the histories and religious studies) and he's a complete hypocrite doing visual art, cafs, PE, soc, engineering studies and all those other stupid subjects are a pile of shit and it is my school's stupid policy of offering that sort of crap which brings its ranking down.

The HSC is an academic program. If you want to do a bludgey PIP project go to some community college.

 

[squeenie]

There's an inconsistency here...

Earlier on, the OP's profile claimed that they go to JRAHS... Now it claims that they go some school called Black Stump High, which is not on this list...

Troll detected.

/thread.

 

[circusmind]

So, comrades, continue to post on this thread if you are a free thinker. I don't care if you despise me and my floral prose.

You are going to get absolutely destroyed in your first uni essay. In high school, you may get a little bit of kudos for your lexical gymnastics.

Your first marker at uni, however, will probably ask you to kindly shut the fuck up and clearly make your point, if there is indeed one hidden amidst your textual diarrhoea.

 

[risole91]

I Know i've said this before, but some people in here are super shit. I like some of squeenies post.

And like OP saying someone getting 99.xx UAI with the so called soft subjects would be looked down upon, is idiotic, you sir fail.

And lol @ your comment ''continue to post in my ingenius thread''.
my thread>your thread in everyway.

 

[risole91]

Hey I'm noticing something...

Whilst I think this kid is a moron because he's attacking academic disiplines which have been highly regarded for hundreds of years (the histories and religious studies) and he's a complete hypocrite doing visual art, cafs, PE, soc, engineering studies and all those other stupid subjects are a pile of shit and it is my school's stupid policy of offering that sort of crap which brings its ranking down.

The HSC is an academic program. If you want to do a bludgey PIP project go to some community college.

Idiot, Your opinions, which you are entitled too, are so bad.

 

[lyounamu]

Yeah, I am doing some "soft subjects". But I am doing them purely due to my interest and for my UAI.

I would rather get 99+ UAI with soft subjects than 90+ UAI with hard-core subjects.

 

[risole91]

Yeah, I am doing some "soft subjects". But I am doing them purely due to my interest and for my UAI.

I would rather get 99+ UAI with soft subjects than 90+ UAI with hard-core subjects.

No such thing as soft subjects Lyou. Don't get sucked into this way of thinking.

 

[iEdd]

What about category B subjects?

 

[the name i want]

Hooray for soft subjects

- v.a -
-design
-business
-ad english
-modern history

is it still possible to get a UAI of 86?? lol i really dont know

 

[lyounamu]

No such thing as soft subjects Lyou. Don't get sucked into this way of thinking.

Shall keep that in mind. :uhhuh: