. However I feel that even from those who really see the forces as below them they don't treat me much differently, except for a few pitying stares now and then. As others have said, the reaction from girls is usually the same, 'but you could die!'.Tutors are usually shocked when you describe you ambitions to them, I was once told 'oh yeah all boys want to play with guns, but lets look at a real job aswell' during a careers meeting with me my tutor and parents. And another spent an entire general progress review session trying to talk me out of my future plans; however this served a purpose as whenever I was called in for getting in trouble of some sort he'ld revert to our old forces/not forces discussion rather than concentrate on the issue at hand.
I was also never made prefect in my school even though requesting it after being encouraged by my AFCO, and gaining support from a lot of the other students, and the impression giving was it was felt a waste of a student with my aims - bear in mind 60% of our student body were made prefects, 5% of which did any of their duties and about 10% were stripped of their badges by the end of the year for drug offences etc.
I am going through Uni, a fairly serious injury last year made me suddenly panic that I needed a back up plan and it was very touch and go whether I could have got myself into this years batch (I doubt I would've been able to), so the whole UCAS thing doesn't bother me; but I could easily see how it could, there are loads of day off timetable at our college for UCAS applications etc. and the whole system constantly pushes towards university, and acts as if there is no other feasible option but to go to univesity and then onwards into a job in manegement, a lawyer or a doctor.
On the whole I've never felt a problem with the rest of the student body, but with the attitudes of teachers and tutors. Teachers seem ti have one goal in their eyes for which all students could aim, and they do not see forces as a real goal to aim for. The amount of criticism I had to face from tutors because of my gooal was quite bad really, and could put a lot of people off going for this goal.
And in a different experience to PAGreenwell, throughout the whole school and college system I never felt I was seen as anything other than a potential grade walking round by the overall school. While obviously there are the teachers and tutors who take genuine interest in you, as a whole I've never felt it was really there. In fact I feel now that the tutors I have in college look at the person much more than the majority did in school.
