The Irish Independent’s View: Pupils, your work is done – now it’s about trust in your ability

From the wizened streetwise you might hear nuggets such as: “I studied in the school of hard knocks, and it never did me any harm.”

Or be told: “You make your own luck, life is not a points race, you keep your own score.”

We’re all a little guilty for believing our own bad examples uniquely qualify us to give good advice to anyone who will listen.

Perhaps there’s some truth there too: but of how much value it is for any of the 66,000 students who sit down to take their exams tomorrow remains questionable. For they, by now, recognise that this is something they must do for themselves.

Of course it is reassuring to be told there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle, and that only you are capable of getting in your way.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work

But we live in a world where results matter, and however inconsequential some may like to insist the Leaving Cert is, it is one of those hazardous thresholds that sometimes have to be crossed.

This year there will be a slight rebalancing of results to mitigate the impact of grade inflation, which had seen exam results rise on aggregate by about seven percentage points in 2021.

The increase forced some universities to use lotteries for entry to favoured high-points courses such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and others.

In an ever more globalised world, learning has become more of a continuous journey than a destination.

According to GK Chesterton: “Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”

The class of 2025 will be called upon to do new exciting and exacting things. In a world with AI, concepts of learning are being challenged themselves.

Extraordinary technological frontiers are opening for futures that have scarcely even been imagined.

The skills and tasks required for these will be developed with minds as open and curious as yours. It is time to claim your reward for the preparation and effort you have put in, and to reap the benefit of the support your teachers and parents have offered.

Curriculum changes, which will broaden assessment and ease pressure on students, are in the offing.

The fact is, the project of personal development has to be continuous, in such a protean employment environment. There will be stumbles and staggers, but these can be seen as opportunities not to quit; but to recalibrate.

Or as Thomas Edison put it: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

There are no endings when it comes to learning; and there are as many possibilities available in each moment as you are willing to grasp.

And remember when it’s tough in there: the turning point often comes when you begin to trust your own strengths.