Back from the HSC

Hello again!

I have been absent for a long time, due to the HSC. But I'm finished now, and hopefully will be studying a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) next year. I'll find out on January 16.

Having just done it, I've been thinking a lot about the HSC lately, and its place in education. I loved my school subjects, but I wonder whether I have actually learnt that much this year. So many fascinating things that I heard in the classroom had to be pushed out of my brain to make room for completely memorising a few pages of summary notes in preparation for the exams. Much of what we learnt over the last twelve months was condensed into 40-minute essays. A term’s worth of learning about a Shakespearean classic was turned into six neat paragraphs, and these paragraphs are used to help decide whether or not we gain entry to the courses we want to do at university.

I have always loved learning, and it saddens me that the HSC makes some people hate learning so much. Of course, I understand that there is a need for some form of examination to make sure students actually deserve university placements, but I fear that this is at the expense of enjoyment of the fact that we can learn.

In Australia, we get to go to school for all of our childhoods, if we want. Now that it's compulsory until 17, most kids spend thirteen years at school, and public education makes it accessible even to the less fortunate. However, just a few hours away in countries such as Fiji, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, very few children have this privilege. My family sponsored some school students in Vanuatu to help them with their education - without this, they would have left school at fourteen, and never had any other formal education.

I don't write this to sing the praises of my family but to express just how blessed we are in Australia. Which is why the emotional effects of the HSC sometimes worry me. Exams leave students so anxious and upset that they find it incredibly easy to completely forget how lucky they are to be educated, and to learn so much.

I know it's hard - I've done it! But for future HSC students, I encourage you to try your best to remember how lucky you are, even if you are so stressed you can't sleep. You'll feel better about education, and you will value your time at school for more than the marks it gives you.