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Education?

As a child life is good. No stressed, problems or life changing choices to be made. You go to school, study English, Maths, Topic and Music and once you have finished your day you go home to either play outside or stay inside. Same old every day. No bills, exams or jobs.

The moment you move in to year 9 it all changes, school enters a stressful time to prepare for your exams which do not start for 3 years, if you don’t have high target grades you are moved to the bottom of the pile and only “smart” students are given the full 100% package deal. I have never personally been a particularly academic subject; I excel in subjects like catering or design tech and this really did show on my Grade sheet. I came out with a 5 in maths, 5:5 in science and a 6 in catering. I straight away felt so down or even depressed as I thought I did well in my exams but now I must live the rest of my life with these failed subjects.

I did study and work hard during my exams but me and many other students let ourselves down at exams and do not have the confidence to show our full potential in exams. I personally struggle with exam stress. I know the answers and I know I do, but the moment I get into my exam my brain turns off. I am by no means stupid but because the numbers on the sheet don’t show it, I must struggle my way to do what I would like to do.

September came and I started in my local sixth form college, I already got denied entry into my preferred subjects so had to settle with Health and Social, Food, Science and nutrition and Geography which all were Btec subjects. I did what I had to do to get through the school day, I turned up to my lessons, volunteered my answers and remembered the information I was expected to regurgitate into my exams. I would then go home, do my homework and work on my coursework which involved a lot of reading studies and reports to complete.

By November I was in a terrible place with my mental health, I was doing well in my subjects, but it was not what I wanted to do, and I really hated going in to sixth form every day. I decided to drop out of sixth form and got a job in a local pub as a pot wash working at a rate of £4.20 an hour. I managed to get myself a place on an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. I was really enjoying the studying and I was very happy to go home and research about what I had learned in my class. The tutors were great, the learning style worked with me and I looked forward to starting work after completing my level 1 NVQ. I was the first student in my intake to secure myself a job, it was in a small local press shop where the boss was willing to teach me how to use a new machine in the workshop that nobody else had been educated on. I was so excited to start until it came to my start date. I rolled out of bed an hour before I had to leave, showered ate some food and changed into my uniform. The day was great so far and I was looking forward to starting my lifetime profession. After I travelled for 45 minutes to get to work for my first day, I was greeted at the door with a surprised look, I gave one back and at this point I was utterly confused. After talking with my boss, he was waiting for my college to sort out some paperwork so I could not start yet. I went home confused and upset about how this had happened, especially considering I was the first to secure myself a place.

College did not contact me so I phoned up my tutor asking what was happening and she said that the paperwork had not been signed and I would have to start elsewhere. This was the first time in my apprenticeship I had felt down. Luckily college managed to secure me a place after a month of being behind my class in a different firm, which for the first month went well. During the month I was traveling around the UK installing air handling units. On the 24th of April while working locally I became ill and struggled to do the work as I got an infection but left it thinking it would sort itself out. I had to go to the doctors and when I went there, I got the appropriate antibiotics and was given a 10-day sick note. I was upset about not being able to get into work, but I phoned my boss and told him I was sick, had an infection and have been given a sick note. At this time college changed my day release from a Friday to a Tuesday so I was already employed the skin of my teeth as it was no longer effective or helpful having me leaving a job mid-week to go to college and I later got fired. Both the college and my mum were going on at me about tying to find other engineering employment but at this point I decided to focus on my own mental health and had to leave the college after 4 full months.

This is when the real stress started. Straight away I started seeking employment but everywhere was turning me down. I had to start paying rent at hone as my single mother was no longer getting benefits for me and the amount that was being asked, I would have to work stupid hours to cover on a wage of £4.20. I really started to struggle to do anything as I had so much money that was owed to everything, but I did not have a job. I also wanted to drive now and was also looking at going out during the summer. Currently I am starting plumbing in college in September. I know I will succeed and enjoy it as I have fixed bits around my mother’s house and enjoyed doing it. Still looking for a job and looking to work 2 jobs until September to keep on top of money.

I did not write this for empathy or your condolence, I wrote this to get my thoughts and feelings off my chest. I personally do not believe a student should be judged or compared to other students based on their GCSE grades, but should actually be judged based on their skills with people, or their ability to grasp new concepts or even someone’s eagerness to learn and excel in what they choose to do. When I do manage to work myself into the position of becoming an employer I will make sure that all of my staff are not judged by their grades at GCSE when they were 16 years old, but instead by their ability in the field of work they want to do. I would never turn down a job interview because someone hasn’t got 5 GCSE as I would always think about maybe they come from a disadvantaged family or area, poverty levels in the UK are higher than ever.

I also believe that even if a student does decide to leave their current education to put their own mental health first the person should be supported in this and offered support to find a new educational institute. No student should be willing to put themselves in a bad way to succeed in life. I personally am skilled in handyman jobs and have not struggled to do one yet. With 0 experience I have managed to build and design a decked area in my mother’s garden, change the whole water toilet water system to copper pipes and changed a shower to copper pipe with 0 experience. Grades are not the thing of the future but just a mark of the past. In the future students will be employed on their skills, creativity and ethics. I by far would rather employ someone who can complete a task over someone who has been taught to regurgitate information into an exam.

If anybody does take the time out of their day to ready this,

Thank you and I hope you succeed and become whatever you would like to in life. Always put your own mental health before anything and make sure you never let your grades get to you.