note: I plan on getting through any pieces currently unmarked by tomorrow; apologies to those who've had to wait. Also, remember that I'll be inclined to give extra feedback to those who are doing so for others - marking is just as useful as writing a piece yourself (and tbh it's quicker and makes for more efficient improvement anyways) so please to jump in and offer comments when you can!It's our 20 week anniversary, so I brought you something special...
Here's a piece from The Daily Telegraph about the nature of Year 12, just in case your lives didn't feel VCE-centric enough right now! There's also two comments responding to the main piece; deal with all three texts, or just focus on one if you prefer.
Note that VCAA would never give you anything with references to something as specific as The Hunger Games because that'd split the state between those who had read the books/ seen the films - and that'd be a bit cruel. So if you want to say something about that parallel, you can, but I just found the title amusing, so you can just concentrate on the language within the piece.
Year 12: Welcome to the Hunger Games
School days used to be traditionally lauded as the best days of our lives — but those in Year 12 preparing for their final examinations feel more like they’re in a relentless competition that only the strongest can survive.
I’ve worked in education all my career and my daughter is doing her HSC this year. When I talk to teens about how they feel about their final years of schooling, I can’t help but think something, somewhere, has gone terribly wrong.
There are teens who tell me they often think about dropping out — not only of school, but of life. Others who tell me they ask to be excused in class so they can lock themselves in the school toilets and cry. There are those who were made to give up sports and hobbies they loved (one girl was made to sell her beloved horse) so they’d have more time to spend on studying.
For now, I’ll hug my daughter often. Try to be patient when she procrastinates for days watching Gilmore Girls. And I’ll help her realise she can never be defined by a mark.
- Danielle Miller
COMMENTS
Wow what a surprise. Kids are stressed because after years of no competition and awards for participation suddenly they have to achieve or be relegated to the scrap heap and they cannot cope and experts cannot understand why.
It is you experts and your level playing fields that brought this into being, you forgot life is all about competition and learning early in life about this helps you cope with it. Another article in today's Herald Sun talks about how our young cannot even climb a tree. My 2 sons spent so much time up the tree in our yard the neighbours thought they were part monkey.
- Bryan
The stress these kids are experiencing is no different to what students felt 30 years ago. The big difference is coping skills and knowing you had to respond to pressure by stepping up to the plate. Sure some kids will require assistance to handle stress, but guess what? Most of them won't and if their parents stop babying them, these young people will get through this period. If they're not prepared for work or higher education by now, then their upbringing and their parents failed them.
- Steve