MovieChat Forums > Press Gang (1989) Discussion > Don't understand 80s school system

Don't understand 80s school system

posted 15 years ago by Luna552
6 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone. I'm 21 and I just got into PG this week. Love it! Have only seen it up to the end of series 2 so far but the rest of the DVDs are on their way. Anywho...

I'm a little confused about how school worked back then. As far as I can tell they aren't in compulsory education as they don't wear uniform, and the plot of series - and 2 seems to take place over 1 school year. In ep 3 of series 2 (i think) Lynda says she's 16. Yet at the end of series 2 they all leave school for good. So I'm confused, was school different back then? Were they doing their A levels at 17 or something?

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

Uniforms were optional in many schools, they still are in quite a few.
And you could leave school at 16, after doing your O levels (GCSE) - you still can.

Steve

[–] Luna552 15 years ago

Well I thought about that, like maybe they were going to college to do their A levels, but Spike is 17, so they must be able to do them at that school. They wouldn't all just leave without A levels.

[–] Steve Crook 15 years ago

They all had a job to go to. Although Sarah does leave them to go to college the others seem to be content without any higher education.

It is odd now that you point it out, especially as Steven Moffat's father, Bill, who is credited as the series creator, was a school headmaster from Glasgow. You'd think that he would be in favour of education.

Or maybe they're telling us something about journalists - that they pontificate on many subjects but don't really know much

Steve

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] pikrodafni 14 years ago

Sarah goes to **University**. This is the UK, not "something else".