Dancing Queen

More years than I care to remember have passed, and yet it feels like only yesterday since I sat my Leaving Cert.  The weather was beautiful and so was I, only I didn’t know it then.  I was an awkward 17-year old, not really sure of myself, or anyone else either and what I had yet to learn in life could have filled an infinite number of books.  The summer stretched out before me and life seemed very simple.  The big decisions had been made and filed away with the CAO form, waiting for August to come when exam results would determine a college and a career path.  I had wanted to study journalism, the blisters on my hands from English Paper 2, a testimony to my love of the language but I didn’t think I was good enough so instead of even trying, I choose a safety net. 

Often throughout my life I’ve thought of Robert Frost’s “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” and wondered if I had followed his lead, and taken the one less travelled where I might have ended up.  Sometimes I feel I played it safe.  I don’t have regrets as such but I do feel that I wasn’t brave enough or confident enough to stick my neck out, afraid of failing. 

The pressure of the Leaving Cert is a tremendous weight to bare, on teenage shoulders.  All those years of schooling, culminating in what you are led to believe is your one shot.  Trying to get all those dates and formulas that have been committed to memory out on paper, within a designated time frame – it’s a huge ask, and it’s definitely not a system that is reflective of people’s abilities.  Some perform well under pressure, some take exams in their stride, some panic, and some fail.

There are countless examples of extremely successful entrepreneurs who didn’t finish secondary school, let alone take state exams, but their ideas, passion and drive led them to great things.  There are others, like me, who studied different subjects over a period of years, changing careers to reflect a change in life circumstances. Of course college isn’t the only option.  Some pursue apprenticeships, post leaving cert courses or simply join the workforce.  Some repeat exams, striving for higher points second time around.  Some go on to take night courses. There are countless options and ultimately academic success is not a predicator of any one career path. 

At 17, it’s hard to picture how life will unfold.  You don’t know what opportunities will present themselves and what form they might take.  I know that education is hugely important.  I know that there has to be a yard stick by which to measure abilities but I also know that the years are short and that life has taught me and tested me more than any book or exam ever could.  Rather than being the end of my learning, it turns out that Leaving Cert was just the beginning.