Dear Skylarskies,
This is my own take of the of the issues from the point of
practicality.
"A" levels is continuing basic education (thus the school
uniform) to set you up for higher education (i.e university).
Polytechnic is tertiary education (capping of your education)
that is specializing you for the job market (thus no school
uniform). There are instances of course where people went from poly
to uni but this is much fewer than the "A" level route and it cost
a year extra.
I think "A" level is more stressful because it is only 2 years.
If you take out enrollment and holidays, there is only slightly
more than 1 year of schooling to prepare. Comparing the level up
from kindergarten to primary to secondary, there is much less time
to adapt to this higher level.
"A" level being a basic
education has also a streaming function therefore the failure rate
is higher compared to tertiary education. Meaning there is higher
chance of failing "A" levels than university or polytechnic, the
latter two's purpose being specilization.
"A" level runs a higher risk of being stuck should you fail or
your results is not good enough to take you anywhere except private
further education, due to lack of specilization, you are also not
ready for job market. Whereas with poly, passing chances are high
and you will be ready the job maket in the industry that you
trained for.
At the end of the day, you should ask yourself if you like to
study some more for a higher level (and accept the risk or failure
or being stuck) or prefer to start out career a few years earlier
but with a lower base.
