“It was the best of time, it was the worst of times” Charles Dickens couldn't have imagined that the first line of his classic “A tale of two cities” would somehow come to describe my time during my final weeks of high school but nonetheless his sentiment seems very true to me now.
In some ways my final high school exams came too late, I felt like I was already prepared for the world, I was working, making money and living my life how, as I thought, an adult should. I was still staying at my childhood home, but I was living away and embraced in the independence of financial gain but kept safe in the shadow of responsibility. My final year exams and those months of stress, fun, tiredness, fatigue, endurance, suffering, neglect, joy, regret, energy, love, hate, annoyance and acceptance all seems fresh in my and pull at my soul bringing me back to a time of utter destruction and ultimate redemption.
I learned a lot. Perhaps much of it is lost in time but now as I am working in education once more I feel that it makes me a better educator to remember those times of exams, the pressure that I felt and the sense of foreboding of the result. But also of the friends I had, tempered by the stress and made stronger by the pressure. At this point in my life I can firmly say that those exams and those results have not defined me and I hope that any student reading this now can take some solace in my words.
The knowledge you learn during your time, your ability to learn, to take in information, to analyse and to deduce are only part of your educational path. In the Kalajoen Lukio I am proud to say that there is a focus on providing those other skills that cant be tested on a paper or solved as an equation, teamwork, empathy, understanding, collaboration, creativity are all needed in the realities of daily life and in order to educate these lessons a school needs to provide the means. The lukio focuses on providing students avenues to explore these skills through different projects, creative productions, international cooperation and projecting a sense of trust among our students.
I have been part of a number of interview panels in my time and even though the candidates grades are important and the time and effort made to achieve them in itself an indication of the candidates abilities, as an interviewer, I am drawn to what achievements they have accomplished, how the solved a problem, created a solution and worked as part of team. The grades are part of the overall picture and so remember to balance that expectation of perfection with the results of your tasks.
A Persian Sufi poet once wrote a fable about a King who asked his wisest men to provide him with a gift that would make him happy when he sad, but sad when he was happy. The wise men thought about this and made for the king a gold ring with the words, “ This too shall pass” engraved on it.
For those of you going through this challenging time just remember that this time will pass and soon another opportunity will come your way and you will be a little stronger for it. If its not challenging its not changing!
Willz
