The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Lighten up!
“My wife says she will carve on my tombstone my most annoying remark: ‘Ach! That’ll do’,” says Dr John Cameron of St Andrews, “but such an attitude may be what separates ‘Boomers’ from ‘Millennials’.
“In my day, going directly from school to an apprenticeship wasn’t ‘failure’ – few jobs required a degree so only oddbods who coped with exams went up to university.
“Sadly, the ‘Education, Education, Education’ mantra tried to send 50% of young people to university compared to less than 5% in 1960.
“Huge numbers of children were drilled and put under the lash of endless exams, but what is a doddle for odd-bods is a perfectionist nightmare for the many.
“Millennial self-worth is equated with academic achievement to the detriment of their health because attaining such levels is by definition beyond most people. So lighten up!
“Want a job for life? Get a trade. Stay loose and do what lies to your hand.”