With us being in the middle of exam season, many young people are focusing on revision and the stresses that come with exams. The issue is, many young people stress about getting straight A’s and are conditioned to think that, if you don’t get A’s, you won’t succeed in life. This is, in fact, far from true. 

Should young people try their best to get the highest grades achievable for them? Definitely. However, no one size fits all. 

Albert Einstein said “Everybody’s a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Sadly, even in the 21st century, the schooling system still tries to judge fish on their ability to climb a tree. From the teaching methods, where many teachers think a one size fits all, to the choice of subjects some students have available to them, many young people don’t get the flexibility they require to excel in their education. Funding within schools can restrict what subjects students have access to and those who may be very skilled in the likes of art, construction or cooking may struggle to find their potential in life if their school doesn’t offer these as subjects.

When it comes to teaching styles, these can also impact a young persons ability to be successful in their education. Some students learn by reading independently; others learn by being spoken to. Some students learn by utilising a fidget toy to help them concentrate; for others, that would be a distraction. Some students are into their art and music; others are into their science and languages. Whilst there are many teachers that are accommodating to these different learning styles, issues are still prevalent even today. When teachers have a class of 30 to juggle, there is only so much one person can do to ensure all with the class are learning so those who try their hardest to help every student can only do so much. On the flip side, however, there are sadly teachers who practice the one size fits all mentality. 

Throughout my years of education, I have experienced many different styles of teaching styles ranging from those doing little to no teaching and just handing out the work at the start of class to those who go above and beyond. I’ve had teachers where, if I’m fiddling with a piece of paper by doing some origami, they’ve confiscated it as they thought I wasn’t concentrating. The issue, however, was that it in fact helped me concentrate. In their class, if they thought I was concentrating, I was in fact not listening to anything being said. I’ve had other teachers where because of their teaching style, I’ve struggled to retain any information they taught. I’ve had others who didn’t teach at all and just handed out exercise sheets every lesson. 

After leaving sixth form, I leapt straight into employment. Whilst university was something that interested me in my early teens, I didn’t feel that I was in the right place when I left school to go through further education both in terms of personal circumstances but also my own mental health. Despite the pressure from some around me that I needed to go to university, I knew that no two journeys are the same and that I needed to do what was right for me. There were those around me who had a narrow mindset regarding what careers paths you must take. When I went through a period of being interested in doing an arts subject in university, such as drama, I was immediately shut down and told I wouldn’t be supported if I went down that avenue. This further added to my barriers to applying to university. 

Are there times I wished I had university qualifications? Definitely. But when I reflect back on my life, I don’t feel there ever has been ‘the best’ time to get a university qualification and I am ok with that. 

I left school in 2016 and things have only gone up since then. As a working adult, am I happy with where I am in life? Yes. No two people are the same and, therefore, their journeys don’t need to be the same either

Follow my journey

X: @B2BMarchester

Instagram: @B2BMarchester

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/B2BMarchester

Website: http://www.Borough2BoroMarchester.com

Share my posts on your channels to help raise awareness

Donate today

Stripe (no minimum): https://donate.stripe.com/6oE17595Id16fgA5kK

Go Fund Me (minimum £5): http://gofundme.com/borough-2-boro-marchester