Sarah Harte: Anxious generation needs to be faced with academic challenge of Leaving Cert

A bit of healthy stress is good for our development, so it's up to parents to tell children the truth that anxiety, failure, making mistakes and solving them are part of life, along with joy and hope

The Leaving Cert should not be dumbed down. File picture: Denis Minihane

Young Irish women are highly anxious — hardly a surprise when we live in an age of anxiety. One of the hit songs of the moment is Anxiety, an anthem describing 'an elephant sitting on my chest', by the rapper Doechii, a young woman who appears to have captured the zeitgeist. 

Last week, a charity called The Shona Project published the results of their national survey capturing the views of young women. Naturally, the results revealed widespread anxiety and pressure. The Shona Project helps young Irish girls navigate the challenges of growing up by providing practical advice, fostering a sense of solidarity, and encouraging them to be their best selves.

One view captured by the data, however, was that the education system was “suffocating” and caused bright students to crumble beneath the pressure. Tammy Darcy, founder of The Shona Project, said: “The current assessment procedures and their view that schools do not make everyone feel accepted or represented are two key factors. 

This is borne out in the support work The Shona Project do with young women who tell them that to survive in school, they hide in toilets or skip school entirely.

Ms Darcy has a point when she says “we need to reflect the views of our young women in the systems that shape their lives”, but some of us firmly believe that we shouldn’t eliminate the pressure element from exams.

As things stand, you can’t fail the Junior Cert; you continue onto the next year of school regardless. A narrative gaining strength is that the Leaving Cert is unfair because it places too much pressure on students to succeed in their academic careers.

Yet teachers and academics have repeatedly expressed concerns about the "dumbing down" of both the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams, particularly in subjects such as geography, biology, chemistry, and physics, questioning the long-term impact of this measure, including the increase in drop-out rates in the first year of college.

Earlier this month, Trevor Hickey, a university lecturer at the University of Limerick and author of Leaving Cert books, resigned from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment because he was “very concerned” that construction studies was no longer recognisable as “a Stem [science, technology, maths and engineering] subject” due to dumbing down.

Rather than handing out wildly inflated grades, a practice that began during the pandemic when teachers provided estimated grades for their students and predictably led to grades soaring, we should re-orient subjects to focus more on problem-solving rather than rote learning.

Participation medals

And we should stop giving out participation medals, which supposedly boost mental health. This supposed empowerment is, in fact, a form of disempowerment. Medals for showing up potentially hinder children from experiencing difficult emotions and, crucially, learning to regulate them. 

By indulging all upsets, we teach the lesson that getting upset is the way to exit anxiety.

Let’s take the random example of athletics. Your child runs in a race and is no Sharlene Mawdsley. They are disappointed with their performance. As a parent, it’s about expressing positive but realistic expectations. We don’t say, "Listen, little Muffy, the reality is that you come from a long line of slow coaches. You are, at best, a terrible runner, and don’t expect ever to cross that finishing line other than last.” 

This was a significant downside of the 1970s psychology we were subjected to, which ranged from being non-existent to brutal. In this day and age, we say, "Yes, I know you must feel disappointed, but keep running, pet, because it’s fun and good for you".

Doechii's hit 'Anxiety' appears to have captured the mood of a generation. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

You let them figure out gradually that they are never crossing that finishing line first, second or third (assuming such a thing exists) and teach them how to navigate that disappointment, how to internalise the feeling that they’re still worth a lot, even if they aren’t good at running.

Bring back first, second and third place, which are a gentle forerunner of life. Participation medals convey the inaccurate message that everyone is always a winner. It involves slapping a bogus plaster over mediocrity. Most of us are deeply mediocre at tons of things, and that’s not a world tragedy. It’s something we have to make our peace with, or else we must work harder to become better.

Participation medals also risk breeding a sense of 'because I’m worth it' entitlement, which differs from the confidence that is slowly earned through repeated effort. Showing up won’t cut it in the real world. You can’t arrive at the office, sling your ass in the chair, and signal to your boss, look I’m here, aren’t I, what more do you want?

Healthy competition

I had an interesting conversation this week with somebody who said she thought that one of the reasons young people are so anxious is that they are under constant surveillance online. 

They are conditioned to strive for perfection in all facets of their lives, including their physical appearance, clothing, image, skin, and more. They can never get away. Constantly judged and watched, it instils a fear of always being on the brink of making a mistake, which leads them to self-censor and become anxious.

You might say, well, if you think that competition in life is a problem, why introduce more? There is healthy and unhealthy competition. Learning to curate every aspect of your life online while comparing yourself to others is unhealthy. However, healthy competition can be beneficial.

As the former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness said in a brilliant interview last weekend: “Don’t lose courage, be prepared to work, and don’t mind the people who are sort of pushing back. Be brave, don’t say ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I can’t do that. Maybe you can, or at least you can try. Fight for what you want if it’s a good thing." 

I’d add to those wise words, come to school and stop hiding in the toilets. I would actually like to print her words and hand them out to all young girls. I’d give them to boys, too.

Parenting

We, as parents, also have questions to ask ourselves. The social psychologist and academic Jonathan Haidt, author of the book 'The Anxious Generation', who has advocated for the removal of smartphones from young people, maintains that our overprotective parenting style is hurting rather than helping our children.

What we know globally is that for young people born after 1995, the mental health statistics are terrible, with high levels of depression and anxiety. Haidt’s point is that paradoxically, parents have grown increasingly protective but have likely made their children less resilient in the process. 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

For some reason, we live in a cultural moment where the drive to protect has outstripped our ability to let our children experience anxiety, therefore making them more anxious and less good at coping.

There was an item on Drivetime two days ago about parents tracking their adult children on phones because they worry about their safety. It’s nuts. Make no mistake, there’s a price to be paid societally for exercising an uncomfortably intimate dominance over our children's every move. 

We are seeing that play out in the sky-high levels of anxiety of the younger generation, we are seeing it play out in employers' bafflement at the lack of resilience among young employees, and it’s set to get worse unless, as parents, we recalibrate.

Look, I know you’d get tired as parents of experts telling us that we're getting it all wrong. But we must allow our children to encounter uncomfortable situations and develop autonomy. Honestly, I struggle with this, and so do most of my peers, from what I can see. We’re like a bunch of Gen X helicopters, although I sense the penny is beginning to drop.

The Leaving Cert should not be dumbed down. No more grade inflation. No more celebration of mediocrity. Let’s try to communicate to our offspring the truth that anxiety, failure, making mistakes and solving them are part of the deal, along with joy and hope.