Are Art Students Welcome?
Does Uni High fully accommodate students who want to pursue the arts?
Written by Lily Smith
Individuality, Diversity and Excellence.
This is The University High School’s motto. Ask anyone what value out of those three the school prides itself on the most, and the answer will be excellence.
Uni High is renowned as a school that prides itself on its academic excellence. It has been a pioneer in the education of gifted and talented students in Australia. Its acceleration program began in 1981, and is the longest running and most stable program of its kind in Australia. If you were to ask someone that didn’t go to Uni High what they think about the school, they are most likely to say something along the lines of “the smart school.”
This reputation has helped the school attract students from all over, as parents want their children to do well in school. Uni High needs to upkeep this reputation to continue a steady stream of enrolment, as well as just being known as a good school.
Over the years, year 12 students from the school have consistently achieved high ATARs. Last year, in 2021, 11 students received an ATAR of 99 or above, with the Dux being 99.7, and three Dux Proximus with a 99.6. To receive a high scoring ATAR, it helps to take certain subjects, and by certain subjects, I mean science and maths. In general, maths and science subjects are scaled up and arts subjects are scaled down.
There is a perception that students must take certain subjects to achieve well at school. This can create pressure for students, and cause them to think that they should take subjects that they aren’t interested in, which shouldn’t be the case.
If you take into consideration the extensive opportunities that are available at school that relate to science in particular (GTAC, EBSS) there is an expectation that you take advantage of these facilities. Society believes that most of the "good" jobs out there are science related, so it's expected that you do a science subject. As for maths, there is definitely an expectation that you do it in VCE, which for lots of people is not what they want to do at all. However, you can stop science after year 9, and maths after year 10, so it's not compulsory. But the pressure and expectation still exist. Also the pressure to do well coincides with the fact that doing methods or specialist maths and science, specifically chemistry and physics, scales up your ATAR, whereas if you do more artistic subjects, your ATAR gets scaled down, which is completely unfair. Also university prerequisites often include VCE maths, which also pressures people into choosing a maths subject in VCE.
So, what does this mean?
Let’s say you want to pursue a career in the arts, and want to take artistic subjects while in VCE. Unfortunately, Uni High does not allow for this to happen. You can only take two or three subjects that fit into the arts category, leaving you with empty subject spaces that have to be filled with subjects from different domains. Why is this? Simply put, it is most likely that the timetable is like this to subtly push students away from the arts, and into a more academical path, as this is what creates better ATAR results. If you were to get a 30 study score in VCE art, that would become a 26, or if you got a 30 study score in studio arts, then that would become a 24. If you get a 30 in maths methods, that would become a 34, or if you got a 30 in maths specialists, that would become a 41!
Basically, Uni high prioritises maths and science because they generally improve ATAR scores, which is what Uni High prides itself on. This means that students who wish to do more artistic subjects are pushed aside, and can’t take all the subjects they want. Uni High has a timetable issue where students can only take two or three art subjects in the later years, meaning that they are forced to take subjects they don’t want to.