[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

So then when these teenagers get to the age of 16 (or whichever age you feel compulsory education should end at), and we have a plethora of subjects studied, with no standardised quantification of qualification, how are they supposed to apply for jobs?

This is a dreadfully weak argument. They'd apply the same way any other "grown up" applies for a job. Putting an application together which outlines their qualities (or experiences) which makes them suitable for a job. So if one of the projects they did was relavent, they'd probably talk about that. Either the job is trivial (in which case I doubt qualifications will be required) or it's non-trivial and there'll be an interview process which is vastly more important than what you have in terms of certificates.

I know as a teacher qualifications must seem very important to you, but they're not the be all and end all of the job application process.

Just give them a couple of pages of A4 and tell them to describe their school experience and everything they chose to learn?

Yes. And on a personal level, I would certainly pay more attention to the things someone chose to study/work on than the things they're forced to do. If you see someone has a GCSE or O-Level in French, you can't really draw any conclusions at all. But from the projects they've chosen to work on - well that means a quite a bit more.

Do you honestly, seriously believe that a kid with ADHD would happily be left to study and learn if you just gave them a bit of guidance and left them to their own devices?

Kids with serious ADHD might have problems learning in any environment. But at any rate - if ADHD is a medical condition, I'm not sure it can be cured by shouting at them every time they fidget or forcing them into formalised learning patterns. I'd certainly think they'd be better off having a much degree of choice in what they study. Even the people I know with (seemingly serious) ADHD can sit and concentrate for hours on certain things - it just needs to be something they feel strongly enough or enjoy enough.

Most people have problems concentrating on things they find boring, or don't see the point of. If someone asked me to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britanica I'd want to jump out the window after line three. Yet I can sit in front of a computer for hours at a time for other things. Speculating hugely, I'd guess that dopamine release during activities I enjoy / find interesting keeps me on track - this is why ritalin / adderall seems to work for some ADD/ADHD cases.

At any rate, I'm not sure you're grasping the implications of what I'm saying. There will be some people who wouldn't learn in the class-room, and would play football or "mess around" all day instead of reading / doing other work. And guess what - that's OK too. Screaming and shouting and stamping our collective feet until everyone behaves the same way like good little drones doesn't actually seem to work (or do our society any good).