HSC is not the end, it is the beginning for all students

Time and time again, we come to this time of the year as families, with mix feelings of good and bad anxieties. HSC time!!!!
For those of us parents, mothers and fathers with children in the HSC year, we wait pretending not to worry about the results to align the fears from our brood.
We worry. We worry about where they are going to go with their results... Unit, Tech ,the dole etc, and we worry how we may be able to help them if they succeed in their expectations or if they don’t.
I believe as a mother and educator that too much emphasis and pressure is being placed on our kids about results and effects of the HSC and I also believe that not enough stories in the media are devoted to the options and alternative career path that exists in today’s society.
Is not everyone’s dream to go to University as the papers and others expect us to believe ?. Well I believe that indeed many Kids may not wish to and still be happy and responsible individuals.
However as young adults the students when they finish School are battling between the new and the old and these two concepts play a big part into where they may go. The old is the drudgery, the hard pressure of twelve years of formal education. The new is a new found freedom which is scary because as all things new there is excitement and fear as to where it may lead.
I am talking as mother again in appealing to the reporters to cover the stories with light and focus on the positive ways in which not only successful HSC students have a path but also how with a bit of research , they may also notice that there are other ways for those that dont reach the right UAC scores. I speak of worthwhile training in much needed social roles such as nursing ,and in particularly about Tourism and Hospitality, an area close to my own professional expertise.
In Tourism and Hospitality we find our young students taking courses which involve them from an early start with industry players and hands on experience.
They earn a wage whilst they study and they have flexibility to build on their knowledge year by year till they get a degree at University if they so wish.
However I would say that any well meaning reporter should look at providing our kids with leads as to where there is employment growth in Australia and opportunity to further their lives and this industry is showing all the signs on being a winner globally according to the Travel Industry Association of America ( TIA).
Furthermore , it is fun service industry , people oriented, progressive and global, allowing our kids to work and further study not only in stages and in Australia but also to fulfill the normal aussie kid dream of travel and work.
I hope someone can take up this story and I will be happy to contribute with what I know as mother and educator .
Mirella