Focus on Education December 2022
Exam season is upon us, although whether it will be a winter of discontent or an eternal summer of a grateful heart is yet to be known. One thing’s for sure, it envelops us all, with mums, dads and teachers feeling like they are the ones sitting the papers. As the African proverb goes: “Rain does not fall on one roof alone.”
Seasons are an apt metaphor for School life. HGS is an elemental place; its weather leaving no uncertainty as to where we stand in the calendar. Summer gives us a hug and waves goodbye at the start of the academic year. Hands over to autumn, whose gravity settles a studious tone about the grounds. We hunker down in winter, yet thrall as snow settles silent on our ancient School, reminding us of our heritage. Then spring blossoms once more, bringing birds, bees and adolescent hormones back onto the campus.
As we adapt our lives to suit the season, so too do our lives have their own seasons. Each is simultaneously a destination and a journey to another place. We long for summer to arrive, though it is but a prelude to autumn. So too with our school days. Transitional, no doubt. But also a legitimate season in their own right. To rush through them, impatient for ‘real’ life to begin is to ignore the fact that without the passage of one, the other cannot follow. Just as we recall the summer sun in the depths of winter, so too will nostalgia demand that we look back to our years at School with yearning. Ironically, it is often not children but parents who are guilty of rushing them through childhood.
School is a season to be enjoyed, not endured. Likewise, examinations are part of a cycle that will repeat throughout life. Learn, apply, reflect. Repeat. Examinations are just a prelude to the feedback that all work entails. They may be April showers, but they bring May flowers. Or August results to be more literal.
Let’s teach our children to embrace the moment, not wish it away. As the philosopher George Santayana said: “To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”
Stay well and safe.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Best wishes,
Dr Bird
