Exams do not define

ANYONE who has seen a young student go through the rigours of their VCE year can attest to the pressure the system places on our youth.

These students, who are still navigating the social and emotional baggage of teenage life, are pitted against their peers through a stressful exam period for a number that ultimately represents their entire educational history.

For VCE students, the crowning achievement of all their work is the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank — or ATAR — a ranking out of 100 that is used solely for the purpose of determining university admission.

Students work themselves into a lather to achieve as high a ranking as possible, yet that number becomes meaningless mere weeks after university admissions are released.

And for those many students whose life plans do not include university education, be it aspiring tradies, travellers or TAFE students among others, the entire system is rendered almost pointless.

So the question remains as to why our education system is doing the recruiting work for universities?

In the US, school results form only part of the tertiary recruitment process, with colleges themselves accepting written applications and conducting interviews with prospective students before finalising their final offers.

However, our local system renders all our students to a number — without any consideration for the work ethic, personal interests, hidden talents or even community work done by the student involved.

Today’s paper features a liftout designed to help students and their loved ones navigate the fractious Year 12 exam period while maintaining decent body and mental health. In the liftout, adolescent psychologist Allie Humphries offers the sage advice that students need to be reassured that “you are not your ATAR score”.

Of course these complex young people are more than a number. It is such a shame that our education system treats them as such.