Yes, I think you're right that it's better to try and fail than avoid the exam altogether. To be fair, the mother has tried to get him to see it's important. The whole GCSE "thing" now is hopefully at some point to be resolved by Michael Gove; it's a simple fact that GCSEs are not as difficult as the old "O" Level and everyone has, over the past few years, got a false idea of how successful pupils really are. Universities are having to teach new students how to write essays and do things which they should have learned at A Level (and would have done under the old regime). Don't get me started on this!!
Yes, I think you're right that it's better to try and fail than avoid the exam altogether. To be fair, the mother has tried to get him to see it's important. The whole GCSE "thing" now is hopefully at some point to be resolved by Michael Gove; it's a simple fact that GCSEs are not as difficult as the old "O" Level and everyone has, over the past few years, got a false idea of how successful pupils really are. Universities are having to teach new students how to write essays and do things which they should have learned at A Level (and would have done under the old regime). Don't get me started on this!!