A New Beginning

Holidays are over and this week most post GCSE or equivalent students will be off to their sixth forms or colleges to study A Levels(GCE) or equivalent.

For some, hopefully most of us,  it will signal an end of an happy and enjoyable summer holiday full of action, drama and loud noise or perhaps it was more quiet, peaceful and calm. Both scenarios coupled with excellent exam results.  Nevertheless these people wish that their holidays never stopped nor their GCSE years for that matter. Yet they will be confident, overconfident perhaps. With those who have overconfidence, complacency may creep along and bite them where it hurts most. Obtaining success is one thing, sustaining sucess is another. For our reliance on our past success can never assure us future success because our minds and our surroundings are never constant. Furthermore, the higher you achieve, the further your fall should you fail to live up to the high expectations created by one's success. One must heed with caution.

For some of us, school could not have come more soon having endured terrible and anxious holidays and be dejected of disappointing exam results. For those who feel this way, fear not. It is a new beginning and therefore must be met with optimism, hope and belief that the tides can turn around. Why shouldn't it? GCSEs are one thing, A levels are another. GCSEs are composed to test, stretch and view the potential of one's academic ability maximised by willingness to work hard and desire to achieve one's optimum ability. A Levels are composed to challenge the commitment to learn and expand one's interest through rigorous academia but also a test of passion for one's interest and skill capabilities to cope with challenges beyond the syllabus. It is the next two years where one's true colours are revealed. GCSEs may show rounded, intellectual ability- something that can never be disregarded since it is a sign of durability- but it does not test neither our the willingness to express one's passion of a subject nor our ability to apply complex theory in practice- something which occurs in the everyday life. So don't give up just yet.

Whatever it maybe, one hopes one's holiday was most relaxing and that one is refreshed and recharged to expand one's interests or tackle the difficult challenges ahead of us, academia or not. Judge yourself not now but in two years time. For that surely counts the most.

Kingston's Education and Unemployment

Not for the first time, recent statistics have shown a correlation between education and unemployment in Kingston’s local areas. The education-unemployment graph suggests low academic schools(LAS) are situated in local areas of the borough that has high unemployment. The question is why such a recurring ‘coincidence’ happens to be actual occurrence.

Families in high unemployment areas earn little or no income. A book ‘Small expectations: Learning to be poor?’ suggests children of low/non income families learn their financial difficulties and thus reduce their future aspirations based on their economic position in society.

Crime-Unemployment graph

Pupils’ academic attitudes are hugely affected by this link. Students attending high academic schools(HAS) behave more rationally, gain economic incentives to work harder because they have greater awareness of education’s value in the future. Whereas students of ‘LAS’, knowing there are better schools, automatically obtain an ‘I’m rubbish’ mentality. It lays out hedonistic incentives to drink alcohol, take drugs etc... This path leads to a future where one stays at home, has little or no qualifications, unemployed and, as the crime-unemployment graph suggests, is likely to commit unjustified anti-social offences. Therefore the poorer one’s education, higher the risk of unemployment and involvement in crime because, according to sociological theorists, one doesn’t understand ‘benefits of adhering to conventional social values’.

Teachers are a factor in the education-unemployment link. Most teachers realise the incentive of improving their pupils’ results to gain recognition from ‘HAS’. As a result, often those teachers leave for ‘HAS’ whom offer a higher salary, leaving low achievers with non-incentivised teachers which is why this link will always exist just as the unemployment rate will never reach zero.

Education-Unemployment graph

The link itself and its effects are not severe in Kingston compared to other boroughs. For instance, Tolworth Girls, despite situated in an area of 3% unemployment rate, their ‘A*-C’ % is higher than Hollyfield, who has a 2.4% unemployment rate, because of its pupils’ desire to succeed and its teachers’ dedication to teach. Stronger education leads to lower unemployment and crime rate and thus a safer community.