UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Just wanted to wish all those waiting for A and AS levels results today the best of luck......including us parents who are waiting with fingers crossed to see what our off spring have achieved.

My son is getting ready to go to college to collect his AS results......I think I am more nervous than him!

Hope everyone gets what they hoped for and need for next year.

Sandi

My eldest got her AS results today as well. After the way I blabbed to one and all about her GCSE results last year she has forbidden me to tell anyone what she's got this time (spoilsport) but she is well on the way to getting what she expects to need for uni so we're all happy.

I haven't been quite as nervous as I was last year but this week has been bad.

Did your son get the grades he hoped for Sandi?

Hi Alison,

We must suffer from the same Proud Mummy Syndrome!

My son did really well and is thrilled with his results, like your daughter he is well on the way to the grades he needs for the course he wants to do at Uni, so big smiles all round.

Please pass on my congratulations to your daughter......we'll have to have a thread next year to support each other in the weeks leading up to the day the results are released.

Sandi

I am only half a proud Mummy. My son got his AS results today, Maths - A, Physics - A, IT - E!, Economics - E! How can he manage do this? Some things seem effortless to him, but if he is not interested, that's it. The thing is he's supposed to like IT!

They do have you shaking your head in disbelief at times don't they? My daughter's worst result on an individual module was the one she was most confident in. I put it down to over confidence and just hope that the experience has taught her something.

Over-confidence is certainly a factor. When I was doing my English Literature O level (back in 1981), our Head of English was hoping to be appointed lead examiner for the board, and he wanted "his" pupils to perform exceptionally.

So basically, he leaked the exam papers for the mock exams to us. The pass rate was abysmal; the worst in the school's history. The moral here is that if you think you know the answers, you've not done enough revision

I don't know what it is about two staggeringly good "A" grade passes that makes it possible for a brace of "E" grades to take off the shine.

I did better in some subjects than in others, and did very poorly in some. I managed to get by. My children had glittering results in some subjects but not in others. They both seem to be coping with life pretty well.

I do think that it is sometimes possible for over anxious parents to transfer their fears to children who are just trying to cope with the increasing pressures of life. Even if your children did very badly (and it is likely that some did), the sun will still come up tomorrow.

Yes, grades are important, but if relatively poorer grades mean going to The University of Abertay rathr than Edinburgh, or Bristol rather than Durham, or finding a job rather than going on to higher education, then maybe that is not the end of the world.

A good friend of mine is now one of the world's most distinguished members of his chosen profession. He holds several degrees from the finest Universities, including an Edinburgh PhD (no small thing to have).

He lives now near to people with whom he was at school. They "failed" their A levels, but every one of them is as well paid as Michael and they are all extremely happy with the way things have worked out.

To those who did well in any subjects: sincerest congratulations. To those who did less well than they had expected: tomorrow is another day.

Andrew

Totally agree Andrew!

When I mention that I am a proud mummy, it is not because my son got straight A's, which he didn't.....although he did get an A in his favourite subject, Business, it is because from the age of 9 he has suffered very badly healthwise, and for the past 7 years has only been able to attend school and college part time due to having ME.

For him the achievement of actually sitting the exams was enough! He also choose to do them without additional time/rest breaks,which he was entitled to. Attending part time, at one point, meant all he could manage was 30 minutes in a classroom.

He has choosen to go on to uni as he feels that will give him the best opportunity in his choosen field, but this is not a decision taken lightly, as again the ME means he can only study at a uni close by, as he wants to live at home while studying because of the pain and fatigue he suffers with on a daily basis.

I always try and take a positive view on things, and the one thing this awful illness has given him is the determination to suceed. Even though at one point, his success would be just walking up the stairs, having 'his education taken away from him', as he put it, has made he want to learn as much as he can.

My eldest son passed his BTEC in IT at college and chose not to go onto uni, as it wasn't for him and got negative repsonses from his friends who were all off to various uni's. He is now in a dream job and loving it.

Achievement and success come in many forms, not all measured in grades!

And whether people choose the University of London or the University of Life, I hope they enjoy it! Both have so much to offer!

Sandi

Sandi

It is good that your son knows of your pride in his accomplishments. To triumph over adversity is a great thing to achieve.

Incidentally, Pride is NOT one of the seven deadly sins (confusion arises from a mistranslation); Hubris is. To take pride in our own achievements or in the achievements of others is a grace, not a sin.

Hubris, as opposed to pride, is a haughtiness that does not care what other people think, and it is, therefore, the defining distinction of all sin.

Andrew

Each time I come on this board I learn something new!!

Thanks Andrew.