Brins Back to School (Essay: School)

Some readers might know that I've written some posts about Scottish school tips. Even though I've left school now, I still concern myself with school pupils who I feel are bombarded with a colossal amount of pressure throughout school and don't seem to get the respect from teachers - and indeed society - that I'd say they deserve. I know from first-hand experience that teachers lie outright to pupils, sometimes dabbling in 'shock tactics', to get them to scramble to pass their exams, fill in some trivial form, or make them think something quite untrue about their future.

While most school-pupils perhaps aren't affected much by these things, I was to a fair degree, and I do feel that others are too. Since these pressures and schock tactics are likely to continue for who knows how long, I'd like to at least raise some awareness amongst pupils of the things they might be told in future, and how to react to it. Perhaps the teachers generally mean well, but for those children who scare easily, it's nice to know what to take with a pinch of salt.

Nobody reads these, of course, but maybe I'll publish my essays and BECOME FAMOUS!!

...Or not...

But anyway, I've decided to write another one. It's a bit more trivial, but still something interesting. It's 'The Great Exam Results Rush'.

That's right. Traditionally, the formula is this: From S4 upwards, exam results arrive at your house sometime during the summer holidays. When this happens, you might feel disappointed, happy, content, amazed, and/or countless other things about your results. After a day or two, you've hopefully processed what you've got in your mind, and accepted it.

But that's not the end - after term begins, for some weird reason, all your classmates feel obliged to harrass everyone they know about their results, thereby forcing everyone to remember them and get their marks broadcasted across the year. Oh, the shame! How cruel! The madness!

If you're one of the types who can't be bothered with this and just wants to avoid telling people, I have to say it seems the best thing to do probably is to tell someone. I used to just worm my way out of giving it in conversation, but this just made the requests for information even more frequent. I suspect that by telling classmates who 'get around' in the year group, perhaps they'll relay your results in passing to friends, thereby reducing the flurry of demands for grades on your part. Problem solved? I don't know if there is an easier solution than this, but my personal recommendation would be to go with it rather than refuse to talk. It seems to get the exam rush over faster.

Hey, this might sound petty to most people, but I think all school pupils know how annoying this exam result fever is. And right after a holiday, too! THE NERVE!!

As ever, blame the SQA! (It's always their fault - a topic for another day!)  ¶ 8:50 pm