matric results. pass or fail. joy or tears

Today the Matric results were released.  All over 1000's of either eager or seriously worried teenagers could be found queueing outside newspaper offices or hunched over newspapers at street sellers at the crack of dawn .... hunting for their number.

I wondered what would happen if you opened the newspaper today and realised that this year the results in there were published under each school's name .... with the results reflecting only the matriculants' exam number and their results.  What a bugger up if you had already forgotten your number .... 

Facebook was soon flooded with hundreds of messages of congratulations and photos of excited kids, kids & parents or just verses and such.  You can feel their joy.  And then again there are the photos of those who have really excelled and roped in distinctions .... up to 10 (yo .... did they never go out?).  At the school were my kids go/went .... there is a girl with 8 .... a bright, friendly, lovely girl ... we applaud her.  My daughter managed her 6 last year with a lot of tears (a lot) and sweat and a phenomenal amount of grit and studying.  She will reap the rewards.  She is studying and living her dream at the moment. 

But that is not the be and end all ...... there are 1000's of kids who work themselves to a standstill and as long as they got the best results that they were capable of on the day ... then that is a pat on the back for those too ...... it is very much like prizegiving at the end of the school year.  Just because you do not go up on stage, does not mean that you are not a dedicated person working very hard.  

Obviously if you are just cruising along ... well then that is your own doing. 

So today we smile along with the joy of all these kids.  But we also need to spare some thought for those who do not have a pass in hand today.  I am not referring to the ones that simply did not study or try and I most certainly am not referring to that large group of cheaters who are going to find their marks reversed.  I am talking about the kids that really tried, whose lives are perhaps not conducive to study and homework, who waited in vain for the Government to supply their books, who receive their schooling under trees ... yes many of those pass, but many don't.  So let us spare a thought for their struggles and their disappointment today.  I hope I live to see a time of equal schooling for all. 

till soon 
c'est la vie xxx