Modern Education is stressful
Stressful Education? Some might say it always has been stressful. Indeed, over the past 11 years, I have seen a staggering increase in the numbers of children coming to see me help them with stress.
From mock GCSEs to Masters degrees, kids from ordinary comprehensive schools, through private schools and Oxford University and the OU.
Why can’t they fail?
What makes them so stressed? They believe that if they fail their exams, they will fail in life. They avoid thinking about the consequences of failing — the pressure they put on themselves because they won’t get their perfect job.
The truth is, though, that the one thing they fail to tell you at school is the availability of jobs, and how they are affected by the economy. When I did my A-levels if I didn’t get the grades I wanted, I always had an alternative. I didn’t get the grades I needed for Cardiff Uni, so I ended up at Oxford Poly, now Oxford Brookes University. Had I gone to Cardiff, I would have failed to meet my future husband. So a negative turned out a positive in the end.
I studied Architecture, and decided to take a year out after my first degree because I wasn’t sure I wanted to become an architect. Just as well I did as the economy crashed, taking the construction industry with it. Five years later, I met up with one of the students I had studied with, and he hadn’t had a job in all that time.
Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you earn big bucks
Years later, while taking a break from my work as a graphic designer, I did a stint at the open university as a receptionist. I was amazed by the number of students that came through that door, expecting to walk into a job just because they had a degree. Life is not as simple as that.
I encourage my young clients to think always of alternatives, so they never feel as if they are trapped to do one thing. There are no jobs for life any more. Being creative can help you find the kind of work you want to do.
Others are just not academic, and they suffer at the hands of the education system. There appears to be little respect for practical jobs such as carpentry, building, car maintenance. They are all skills needed; it’s just you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do them. I went to a comprehensive school which had graded levels, thus allowing for the academic ones to focus on going to uni. The middle range focused on management, policing and commerce. Lower grades to learn skills like driving, car maintenance, woodwork and metalwork. But quite a few went on to become very successful business people, or they studied in their late 20s and went on to get much better jobs.
Everyone at the moment appears to want to be an Actor!
When you are at school, you tend to study the subjects you feel most at home with, or you like the teacher. Being dyslexic, I loved maths, physics, chemistry, technical drawing and art. I tried to avoid languages. The same is true today – When I ask why my clients like a subject, they answer they like the teacher, or it’s something easy for them. At the present moment, I have several students who want to be actors; I don’t think they realise that it’s possibly one of the most precarious of occupations — never knowing when you will be working.
Perhaps this isn’t the right time?
Everyone thinks that the progression in life is: School, University, Work, Retirement. The truth is though; you can get a degree at any time. Work often doesn’t last until retirement age; many people become self-employed. Many people can’t afford to retire, so they have to work. Some carry on working as they need to fill the hours in the day to stop boredom.
My mother-in-law did her degree at 40 and trained as a vicar in her 60’s. There is never a set time to do anything. Do it when the time is right for you.
Also see: Exam Stress
Also see: https://youtu.be/6S9E0MVteEc