The Education System Is Flawed

Rebecca Brown, 19, UK.

Here we go…

Exams:

I stress over every single exam I take, and lose my hair in the process (I have Trichotillomania, google it) - as well as going into mega meltdown mode and into the negative spiral of depression….

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We have exams every winter and summer, but the older you get, the more important and overly dramatic they become…. There are some years whereby the exams are more important than others.

8 years old: distressed over year 2 Sat’s exams…. according to my Mum, I cried for days.

14 years old SAT’s (which no longer happen in our education system): I broke down in front of 300 students (literally, in the front row) in an English exam, due to the breakdown, I got a terrible grade and missed out of the top set. I was an A*. This affected all my sets for the next 2 years… Not just that, every exam was traumatic.

15-16 years old GCSE’s: To date, I feel that these exams are the hardest and most ridiculous exams of education. Too much pressure, too many different subjects. I literally locked myself away for 4 months, lost half my hair (which I can now rip out in 4 days instead of 4 months!) How children can be put through such a traumatic experience is beyond me. Completely unnecisary. Well done to any child who goes through that.

16-18 years old A-levels: SO MUCH WORK. You’d have thought that condensing 12 subjects into 5 of your choice is easier? No way. The work you do is more intense and there is more of it. You end up having to chose a “top subject”, one that you would sacrifice your life for, such as art, and finally sacrificing another, such as English so that you can work towards the more important ones…. If I put 100% into all 5, I would have had my breakdown a year earlier.

I had a breakdown over Winter 2010-2011…. A-Levels, relationships, suicidal thoughts, depression, life, hair… everything… I eventually picked up a BTEC and did 2 a levels (you have to drop an a level in year 2 anyway.)

By the Summer, I had gone bald twice and I literally destroyed myself to get those A*s. Due to the breakdown, I lost months, and had to catch up - big time. I nearly didn’t make it to Uni…

University: The first year DOES NOT COUNT (which is a load of BS!) You just need a pass, therefore how on earth do you find the motivation to get a 1st? (Whatever that is) when it’s not needed? All these exams this year mean NOTHING…. The year is just a waste of time and the exams are another source of depression and distress which are not needed.

Exams and Education destroy us…

Why should we destroy everything about ourselves so that we can be categorised into a leader board of who has the highest grade. An “A” grade means nothing, it’s the effort behind it. I sacrifice everything to get my A’s, I have no life, no fun, but so may a person who get’s a D…. It’s the effort.

I know someone who works her socks of to get her B’s and she is so strong, she couldn’t try any harder. I also know someone else who excels in Maths, little revision but he gets A*’s…..

And then I wonder, what is the point of exam’s in the first place?

How can you compare people?

I take 4 hours to complete a decent painting. My sister takes several weeks, but we still achieve the same outcomes/standards? Or in a maths exam, my brother can work through a paper in minutes, whereas I could spend half an hour on one question!

The system puts us in batches depending on when we are born. But children learn at different ages, in different ways…. You can’t teach two children the same way.

My brother was helping me with my year 10 maths work, when he was in year 7… Just because I was born in 1992, doesn’t mean I work/learn at the same pace as everyone else born in that year!!!

Finally, subjects:

All subjects should be equally important, academic and vocational! Maths has no higher priority than art. Academic subjects are often considered more important (see Ken Robinson) than vocational ones. WE ARE ALL EQUAL!

YOU CAN’T COMPARE.

This whole education system is flawed….

We should be given new goals to aim for…. to improve the world, to work for the good of the community, not for self gain. Exams should be altered in some subjects, the time restrictions should be lifted…..

I can’t express how angry this system makes me….

I wish there was something I could do to change it.

Rebecca Brown, 19.

65 notes | 3 months ago

Beckie0

The Education System Is Flawed

65 notes