Grades are Important but so is Mental Health

Jul 05, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Common Entrance results were released recently. We are once again in the periodical summer whereby an eleven or twelve year old may be ecstatic and zealous or unhappy and depressed.
I recently found out that for Common Entrance Examinations only 130 seats are available for Queen’s College. That means that out of 14,000 pupils only 130 students will get QC. That’s only 0.929%. Let that sink in for a moment. Less than one percent of pupils who wrote Common Entrance will get into QC. Harvard University does not have those odds neither does Oxford nor Cambridge.
When I was 11 years old, my parents worked with me throughout for one year in order to prepare me for Common Entrance Examinations. My father and I worked every night during the weekdays and would study Mathematics and English. My mother and I on the weekends would do the other subjects. I had all the resources: the past papers, the textbooks, etc… I even went to one of the best private primary schools and I worked really hard. Despite all of that, I did not get QC.
I have done CXC, A levels and written law exams and I have never been nervous for any of those exams as I was for Common Entrance. I did not want to disappoint my parents nor family because I felt everyone wanted and expected that I would get QC. That’s a lot of pressure on any boy or girl.
I, as an 11 year old, felt that if I didn’t get QC, it was the end of the world. My life was over! I thought that if I didn’t get QC, I wouldn’t be a good lawyer because my father went to QC and to be a good lawyer you need to go to QC. That’s the deductive reasoning of an eleven year old. Parents need to remind their children that if they don’t get QC, it’s not the end of the world. If they continue to work hard and stay disciplined, they will achieve great things.
A vast number of professionals who are leaders in their respective fields did not get QC. I cannot list everyone because the number is so vast but I shall list a few. The former Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Carl Singh did not get QC. The former Chief Justice Ian Chang SC did not get QC. Guyana’s only neurosurgeon Dr. Amarnauth Dukhi did not get QC. Business tycoon Dr. Yesu Persaud did not get QC.
In light of what I mentioned, I wish to congratulate all of those students who did the Common Entrance Examinations and worked hard and to encourage them to continue to work hard and if you didn’t get QC, it’s not the end of the world! Continue to work hard and be disciplined and you will do great in life!

Yours sincerely,
Mikel Puran

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