Here it comes with all its mighty force. The HSC. Finally. After a painstaking 12 months of drudgery and high anxiety levels, the ordeal is reaching the beginning of its end this week.
The first exams are starting, much to the relief of parents and students.
"I cannot wait for this to be over" is the repeated refrain of every parent with a child going through it.
What makes me so sad and furious is that the past 12 months should have been a happy and memorable year, a year that our children should remember as a rite of passage into adulthood and not as a "slog fest" that rarely teaches our students critical, let alone much analytical thinking.
When even the senior teachers of our school admit that the final years are all about "slogging it out", and the "HSC is not about intelligence, but about perseverance", then I really do question its merits.
As they regurgitate the curriculum repeatedly, the pressure on the students to achieve unrealistic ATARS is extraordinary.
School counsellors and parents have seen an increase in anxiety levels and self-harming among high school students, especially in the last two years of school, with many students suffering from depression and panic attacks as they are unable to deal with the mounting pressure.
Tutoring businesses are cashing in not just on low-performing students but on high-performing candidates who are seeking ATARS above 95.
Holidays are put on hold, life comes to a standstill.
This is an important year for parents and children. The year before offspring transition into the big wide world and before the family dynamics change for good. It should be a year of happiness, time for connecting with each other. It should be a year of finding out more about their strengths and talents.
Yet the last 12 months of school in NSW are marked by incredible tension, time pressures, sleep deprivation and managing the child’s nerves and time to the detriment of precious family life.
What’s missing in this education system is a holistic approach where children are valued for who they are and not the final mark they produce.
What we need is a system where education enlightens our students and not stunts their emotional and intellectual growth.
- Susanne North is a family educator for a Sydney Catholic primary school.
