It’s time to celebrate – whatever your results

AT SOME point today, almost 60,000 students may be surprised to discover that the planet is still turning, despite the receipt of their Leaving Cert results around which their lives have pivoted for the past two years. The exam has been dissected, dismissed, and deified in equal measure since it was first introduced in 1924.

No doubt even then there were arguments about learning by rote or whether it was fit for purpose. Well, its longevity renders all such squabbling somewhat um ... academic.

Like it or not, it is just one obstacle on life’s journey – albeit a formidable one. All those whom have cleared it and whom have gone on to establish glittering careers in a myriad of professions will attest that there is no other exam so loaded with consequence.

All who sit it are put through the same unforgiving wringer. So coming out the other side should always be a cause of celebration – whatever the results.

There is an argument for the case that the only test that actually counts is the one that you set for yourself, and the only limits that matter are those imposed by that same self.

State exams can test familiarity with the curriculum, a degree of ability in set subjects and a competence to learn. The vagaries of life, however, are often outside the margins; the metrics for character, determination and self-belief are not signed off on by the Department of Education. They require your unique signature.

Society has become dangerously fixated with a narrow focus on success and its ugly sister celebrity, as opposed to celebrating the triumph of survival and the inevitable struggle that continually goes with it. So today, whatever points you attain, remember that you and only you hold sway over your accomplishments. The Leaving Cert is but a step in the road in an open-ended journey.