Social media posts saying results don’t matter and they don’t affect your life?

[SurpriseOzzy]

Then subsequently agreeing they open doors but aren’t everything…what’s the point of an education then if it’s not going to open doors?

They do open doors and are very important. And certainly make life easier.

But clearly you don't want a whole load of 18 year olds thinking their lives are over because of rubbish results, when that clearly isn't the case, and there are loads of other options for them.

Because the school results don’t define you at 18 - an education can open doors into all sorts of areas, not just university, and if the door you wanted to go through doesn’t open then there are different roads to take. Probably something like that.

Are they saying it to people who didn’t get the results that they hoped for ?

There’s often more than one way to reach a goal career. If someone say missed their uni offer because of their A-level results, it’s not necessarily the end of the world because they might retake exams, take a year off and reapply to other unis, consider another course…

Some people achieve success in unconventional ways eg by being an entrepreneur in which case skills not tested at school become more important.

My personal opinion is that education opens doors and going through the conveyer belt on GCSE- A-level- degree is simplest but if someone acheievea their goals in a different way (foundation years, qualifications like BTEC, apprenticeships etc ) then they are equally valid.

It does not help a teenager who has not got good results to be told their chances of a good life are over and they will never come to much.

There are so many reasons why someone might not do well, and sometimes it is due to events beyond the control of the individual (remembering my school friend who's father died weeks before A levels began). Someone who has not done as well as they hoped needs encouragement, not discouragement.

Education is important, and obviously it is better and easier to do well. But it is not the case that someone's life is over if they screw up at 18.

I mean it affects your life hugely in terms of what direction you take at this point. It doesn’t define you forever, mean you are a bad person, mean you are stupid or stop you reaching your dreams just possibly in a different way to Plan A. And in the end it might be way better

I think it's meant as a way of giving people hope, rather than say 'screw education '. Having said that, I have had a 20 year battle with students claiming:"I don't need this subject. My dad/ uncle Johnny hasn't got any gcses and he's in a good job. " If I got paid by the sigh, I could have retired by now.

The difference with A level is that you've already got your gcses and even a poor a levels is still an a level. My a level results were better than all my friends; got me into Russell group etc. But they're all outearning me now.

I find it frustrating as well because it's statistically very difficult for young people to get into well paid work without university or access to high quality apprenticeships. However there are outliers and people shouldn't write themselves off. Plus success in life shouldn't be measured simply by academic results and employment.

I think it comes from a well-meaning place, but I think it's a platitude that makes no one feel better except the person saying it.

There are people who fail all their exams and then reach the top, but firstly, it was easier to do back in the 80s when many fewer people did A-levels and secondly the fact that they are newsworthy means that it is relatively uncommon.

And when I've had something go badly, I have had absolutely no comfort from the fact that it happened to a random celebrity/person spouting on sm who is now telling me with the delight of an enthusiastic kangaroo that it didn't matter to them... looking back. And I bet it really mattered to them at the time too.

Better to give comfort at the time, let them lick their wounds and then talk about other options.

But the biggest problem is pushing everyone into the academic route, when some people are far more suited to practical or other careers that are just as important as the academic ones you need a degree for.
Those careers shouldn't be seen as second best and only to go if you can't manage the academic route. They are just as important and just as difficult, but in a different way.

One of DD2 friends is being told this - she isn't likely to get the grades needed to do what she wants next which was a bit of a disappointment.

If it was DD2 I'd be focusing on other ways of getting there- other courses not A-levels - different way to career she wants.

As it is her friend been nasty about DD2 studying so hard and is missing assessments and generally giving up.

Because both are true, good exam results open doors but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get what you hope for. I’d certainly not be writing someone off at 18.

I do think they make life easier but it isn’t the end of the world if they aren’t the results someone was expecting or hoping for. I can remember my sister being in a terrible state over her results. She still managed to go and qualify as a teacher by the time she was 24. It just delayed things a little for her.

what’s the point of an education then if it’s not going to open doors?

Because being educated whether you have bits of paper to prove it or not, is a goal in itself because it deepens and broadens human experience which also opens doors in its own way.

People seem to have reduced education to teaching to a test and something thin and measly and all about earning money potential only. There is more than one kind of poverty.

Young people who have done badly in final exams are not necessarily poorly educated, messing up the exams doesn't remove all the education that lead up to them. That isn’t stripped away by low marks or even entirely failed exams.

Many years ago, I pulled a young man from a bridge parapet who’d decided he couldn’t face his parents after poor results. He’d got his results from local high flying private school and spent the day ruminating on how his parents would react, how his future was now nothing, and how his life was over.
Late at night and out of options he'd come to the conclusion that jumping was a better choice than facing his parents and their ‘public shame’ of him not now headed to an RG uni and an expected high-flying career that had been laid out for him, paid for and prepared for since he was young. I thought he was OTT until I later met the parents.

Not all of them can retake or have other options, or parents they can talk to or who will be supportive, so I’m glad if people on social media tell them to take a deep breath and get it into perspective.

First answer sums it up.

Yes, of course you have better opportunities / more choices if you have better / more qualifications BUT people are pointing out that if it all went wrong when you are 17 or 18, this doesn't mean it is the end of the world.
There are different paths to walk. Start from where you are and make good choices.