One thing is for sure. Your ATAR, grades or ranking don’t define you- or what you’re walking away with after all these years. You do.
Everything you’ve learned, the experiences you’ve had, the relationships you take with you and the things you juggled outside of school are all part of your education. This knowledge and experience are setting you up to take on the world.
It’s all in how you use the years and that part is up to you.
Play the game
Like anything you’re passionate about, there will be times you succeed and times you fail. Just the same as with a passion, interest and hobby, it doesn’t mean you give up – you try harder and smarter. You’re learning and you’ll be stronger and smarter for it too.
Each time you think you’ve failed – be it a social fail, on a test, caught out in class, failing a subject or even dropping out entirely. This isn’t a failure at all. From this, you can learn and try again, and all learning is worthwhile.
One step at a time
No one leaves school with all the answers. What you learn in school will only make up a section of the knowledge you will need in the years after, but it goes a long way in helping you pick up that information after school. By getting the same education as other school leavers in QLD, you have the same base mark – you’re also learning how to be a critical thinker, how to challenge your own beliefs and thought patterns, learning about others and learning from the past.
Make it real for you
Change the way you think about education and school. Even in the classes that might seem boring to you, by learning the stuff that other Australian youths are, you’re training your brain to learn, so you can pick up things better after school, and growing your ability to connect with your peers and the world. There’s a bunch of things you probably thought you’d never need to learn, but you’ll be glad you did!
You’re kind of always learning
If it’s challenging you or challenging the way you think then you’re learning more. Any job can teach you something – resilience, how to hold your tongue, how to speak up, finance, design, social care etc.
Your choice, your pathway, your life
You can choose to coast through school, or fight against it- or you can take hold of each option, make the most of each class, build relationships and seek support, take help when it’s offered and help others to do the same. If you’re not enjoying school try looking at it differently – seek support at school, ask teachers for help understanding the relevance or how to catch up. Some things you can’t change, but the way you view your schooling, further education, training and employment is entirely up to you.
