My youngest and I were talking about holidays with my mum (we go away for a week with my parents every year), and he pointed out that in two years we will have to make sure our week doesn’t clash with GCSE results week. How can my little baby be just two years away from results? And how can my little baby (now standing over 6′ tall, but still my little baby) be spending this summer worrying about Y10 and the ‘proper’ start of the GCSE syllabus? Why, in the big scheme of things, do these two years and then one day in August mean so much, and cause so much stress? And then why do most kids go on to another two years of stress and another August day of angst, followed by celebrations or disappointments?

I’ve written blogs before about exams (see here) and how you can have success without straight As (see here), but every August I get saddened by the posts on FB from ecstatic parents & students, and the lack of posts from others, who, I assume, didn’t get the grades they wanted or needed.

The world is in turmoil. Social Media, of which I suppose I am a part with this blog that shares my opinions and musings with the world, is affecting voting patterns, elections, is dividing the world and fuelling the far right and the far left. Our planet is burning, politicians are encouraging hate and division, strong economies are on the verge of possible recession, and yet a collection of As and A*s are all that seems to matter this month.

But the problem is, they do matter. These amazing young minds who could change the world, or indeed, could save the world are judged on a piece of paper they may have already picked up if they live in Scotland, or will pick up this week or next in the rest of the country. There will be amazing, unstandardised minds that really could make a huge difference, that don’t do well in standardised tests, and so won’t get the place at uni or won’t get accepted onto an A level course. Although BTECs and Apprenticeships are just as good as A levels and degrees, they don’t all lead to the same point.

There may be a young woman with exam-limiting dyslexia who can visualise a cure for Parkinsons, but she will be lucky if she gets 5 GCSEs, so will do an apprenticeship in something science related, but this route is unlikley to lead her to medical research. Or maybe there is a young man with ADHD who just cannot sit through an exam. Add to this his dyslexia and low self esteem, and the exam results will never reflect his true ability. He wants to teach and inspire young children, and although the BTEC route he’s taking may lead him to applying to do a BEd, it’s unlikely he’ll stick at the course, and we lose the potential of an inspiring male primary teacher that could create ripples and inspire more.

Conversely there may be an incredibly academic young man who wants to be a make up artist and hairdresser – both worthy professions – but because he is a straight A student, and because these still aren’t seen as male profesions, he is encouraged and guided to do A levels, go to university and get an office job that he will be good at, he will earn a good living, but the job won’t ever make his soul sing!

So, here we are. My teen is about to start his GCSEs and he’s worried about the results already (pressure from him, not us). Thousands of teens have opened their Scottish Highers results already, thousands are going to open results today, and thousands more will open results next week. BTEC students will have had their results at the end of July. Results days feel like they mean everything, and in some ways they do, but also they mean nothing. They are a reflection of collection of hours spend in rooms regurgitating information onto a sheet of paper. They do not reflect kindness, empathy, disabilities, innate abilities, happiness, or hurdles that have been overcome.

If today is your day for results, then I wish you luck. I also wish you the confidence to step back and let your teen decide what the next best step for them is – be that work, travel, uni, A levels, retakes, apprenticeships or whatever. Also give them the courage to change their minds. As Baz Luhrmann says in the fabulous song ‘Sunscreen’,

‘ Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t’

And on that note, whatever today brings, sit back and listen……..