The corona-virus pandemic has been a tough time for all. It's affected our social lives, people's working situations, housing and our economy: and the newest edition to this list is our exams.
In the summer of 2020, I would have been taking my A-level exams, but due to the pandemic, I was unable to sit these exams. This made me feel mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was relieved that I didn't have to go through the exam stress. But I was also angry that I wasn't able to show what I could do and prove myself. As someone who has struggled during my A-levels and only towards the end of my time at sixth form started to really prove myself and achieve grades I was proud of, I was nervous that all that hard work was going to lead to nothing.
On the lead up to results day, I was optimistic that everything would work out. I felt confident in our Government that this couldn't possibly go wrong, especially after the events of Scotland only a week beforehand. Walking into results day I felt like teachers and students were disappointed, saddened and unnerved by the results. On opening my results, I had received BBD. I'd been downgraded in one of my subjects from a C to a D and I required BBC to be accepted into my university of choice. I felt so many emotions when I read the UCAS site and found out that I hadn't been accepted to study. I felt isolated at the time because I didn't know that anyone else was going through this. I felt betrayed by the system. But overall, I was disheartened that I potentially wasn't going to live out my passion.
The subject that I have been so eager to study is Urban Studies and Planning. At school, my favourite subject was always geography, especially human geography. I found it so interesting and when searching for a degree I wanted to find something that incorporated my love for social justice, human geography and helping others, and this seemed perfect. I had done so much research about urban environments, what companies and corporations are doing to make them better suited to modern living and making communities more environmentally friendly without losing their sense of place.
A particularly inspiring project I came across in my research was a transport system in Copenhagen called Cityringen. In fact, this project confirmed to me that I wanted to go into transport planning in the future, due to its seamless design and overall effectiveness. I currently live in Leeds, which is notorious among residents for its dreadful transport systems. This is another reason why I want to become a city planner: I want to be the one to start the change and plan a new more efficient way to navigate Leeds.
So, as I was waiting to find out my results, I felt I had really found a subject that would let me become what I desired to be. But on opening my results, I felt this dream was crushed by my government-calculated grades. I felt like I couldn't celebrate or be happy that I had achieved 2 B's. Instead, I was entirely focused on the fact I had received a D and, therefore, not got into University.
I was so frustrated, especially because others were going through this too. As a hard-working student that attends a school in Leeds with teachers that are fair, I find it so difficult to understand their judgement on my predicted grades: yet it was deliberated and I was wrongfully downgraded to a grade which didn't reflect how I would have actually done in my exams.
I think that the system has yet again undermined teachers and forgot that without teachers, they themselves would not have the knowledge allowing them to be where they are today. One of my teachers felt guilty for the grade they gave me: they felt like if they'd have given me a B instead of a C I would have been able to go to university. I believe that it is so wrong that teachers are now questioning their own judgement because it has all gone so badly wrong. It also makes it incredibly difficult for me to defend our current systems because this is another edition to their now almost endless list of mistakes in recent history.
If there's one thing to take away from my experience it's that there is true power in speaking out. As we've seen in the past with the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking out and using your voice can be so incredibly powerful - especially if you're adding to the noise of others. Without the noise on social media and in the news, this would have gone unnoticed and tens of thousands of young people like me would have gone with unfair results, dreams crushed without a plan for their future.
The last week has tested me. It has made me challenge myself and really opened my eyes to the power of young people and that noise can really cause action. It's made me believe that enough noise can create change and feeling the effects of this has made me motivated to make more noise and work with others to force change on injustices. I also want to say thank you to everyone who has been supportive of A-level students this last week, if that's as simple as wanting justice for those by spreading the word on social media or if you're a parent/guardian who has been there for a young person. Thank you so much, you are helping make a change! I’ve thankfully been able to receive my centre assessed grades which were BBC and I believe they’re a fair judgment from my teachers, I am so excited to be starting at my first choice University come September. This is a result of the noise made by students, teachers, parents and the alike who were as angry and frustrated as I was.
Written by Tom Allan, aged 18, from St Marys Menston (Diocese of Leeds)
Tom is a former recipient of Million Minutes Celebrating Young People Awards. Since 2019 Tom has engaged himself in the Alumni network of the awards attending a retreat and online conversations over the course of lockdown.