THIS week, 224 Eurobodalla students are saying goodbye to high school for the final time.
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That is, until they return in less than a month to sit their Higher School Certificates.
It is worth saying very loudly that the HSC is not the end of the world.
Try hard, by all means, but don’t freak out or panic.
It just won’t help.
There are many pathways to a satisfying life and a stellar result in the HSC is just one way.
If it has been achieved at the expense of a young person’s mental health, it simply is not worth it.
Many people have gone on to lead productive, interesting lives without a university degree, let alone a sparkling ATAR.
This is not a message not to try, just a message not to beat yourself up if you don’t get the result you want.
The ability to work hard and apply yourself, whilst staying sane and happy, is far more important in the long run than outside markers of success.
Getting into a particular subject stream at university for the sake of status or family expectation is not a good reason to embark on a career.
Finding something that you love, or at least love a little, that you can also get paid for, is a much better recipe for longevity.
There are also many other paths to university than just the mark students will receive at the end of this year, after those 18 days of exams are over.
Many people have gone to university as mature-age students and done blindingly well, as the graduations each year at the Batemans Bay Campus of the University of Wollongong show.
Yes, these forthcoming exams matter – but they do not mean everything.