The Scoreboard Lie

Let's talk about the absolute lie that runs secondary school.

From the day you walk into Year 10, you're fed a very specific narrative by teachers, parents, exam boards and the glossy posters in the careers office. The message is simple: your entire worth on this planet can be measured by a string of numbers printed on a piece of paper in August.

Get straight 9s and you're a winner — best sixth form, top university, incredible job, happily ever after. Get 4s and 5s and you're apparently heading for doom.

So what do you do? You hitch your entire wagon — your mental health, your self-worth, your sleep — to one goal: The Grade.

And here's the secret nobody warns you about: plenty of people catch that train, get straight 9s, and realise they're completely miserable inside.