Don't get lost with electives

To ensure that students do not get lost in their elective subjects when entering grade 10 depends largely on the efforts of high schools in organizing teaching and career counseling. In addition, the role of universities in announcing enrollment plans early is also particularly important.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhiep, Principal of Chu Van An High School for the Gifted (Hanoi) once shared that the school has 6 groups of subjects to choose from for 10th graders and all 6 groups include physics and chemistry. According to Ms. Nhiep, this was drawn out when she learned that there were students (HS) who, although oriented to study abroad from grade 10, did not carefully research the admission conditions and scholarships of the universities they wanted, leading to not considering when choosing subjects when entering high school. Only when they reached grade 12, were their applications rejected by foreign universities because their high school transcripts did not include the results of natural science subjects such as physics and chemistry, did they regret it.

Therefore, many opinions point out that building subject combinations for high schools as well as advising students and parents before choosing subject combinations is very important, not only for high school graduation exams but also to increase the chances of admission to universities and winning scholarships at foreign universities.

If they choose wrongly, if they are lucky, after a semester or a school year, students will realize their mistake and have time to change their chosen subject combinations according to the Ministry's regulations. However, there are also students who only realize they are "lost" when registering for the high school graduation exam corresponding to university admission. At that time, there is no more chance to correct their mistakes.

The model of differentiated teaching, reducing compulsory subjects and increasing elective subjects when students enter high school is a completely correct policy. However, entering the 4th school year of implementation still shows that the conditions and methods of organization and implementation still have many shortcomings. Many schools choose the easiest way: based on the existing classrooms and teaching staff, they design elective subjects to make it easiest to schedule.

In fact, even though elective courses are taught in a context of teacher and classroom shortages, if schools do it conscientiously, they can still "smartly" increase the choice and increase the chances of university admission for their students. But if schools only arrange classes to facilitate the organization, the difficulties and disadvantages will belong to the students.

However, high schools themselves also pointed out that the efforts to advise and organize elective teaching will only really bring "sweet fruit" if universities join together in announcing the enrollment plan early and maintaining that plan for at least 3 years so that students are not "offside" in the 89th minute. For example, during this year's enrollment season, when the high school graduation exam was near, some universities in social sciences announced the removal of "block C", causing many students to be confused and the Ministry of Education and Training had to intervene to rectify the situation.

Choosing a subject group right from the first grade of high school is an important decision, affecting the future career orientation of students, so it requires advice and guidance from both the school and the family. In particular, the stability in the high school graduation exam and university and college admissions is a factor that helps students feel more confident when making decisions.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dung-lac-loi-voi-mon-tu-chon-185250730223632121.htm