 kmccarthy, Mon, August 27th, 2007 This was the first year that I knew a lot of kids graduating from high school. With Christopher going into his senior year this fall, I queried parents and students alike: how is the college search process going? How did you choose the schools you applied to? What was the deciding factor in choosing the one you will be attending? In June, my children's elementary school invited grads back for a small ceremony, and I went along. It turned into what I think of as my first practice cry for Christopher's graduation. I've been choking up over children's events since Christopher was 3 and his nursery school class created "a restaurant." When the door to the classroom opened to reveal all those sweet little children in chef hats and blue plastic aprons, beaming as they stood ready to serve from bowls of plain spaghetti and iceberg lettuce, a lump formed in my throat. To varying degrees, it's been there ever since. When a college friend wrote to say that her son would be matriculating at our alma mater 30 years after we arrived, the lump forced tears from my eyes. As this summer has progressed, and I've watched local kids get ready to go off on their greatest adventure, I project myself to the coming fall with Christopher, the college application process and eventually, graduation. I'm trying to get the need to sob and curl up into a fetal position out of the way so I can progress to the point where I can be at his graduation with tears rolling silently down my face. On our vacation in Ireland, we got a taste of educational emotion, European-style. Some Irish-by-burth, English-by-residence friends of my Irish-resident sister-in-law have 17-year-old twin daughters who had their O Level results faxed to Lanna's office. O Levels determine the next stage for students in England. Whether they remain at the school where they've been, whether they can switch to a school they'd prefer and what they will study for the next two years are affected by the results of exams they took at the end of May. We've often felt that the European system of education is too draconian for our tastes. Kids are tracked early; at a young age, they're either headed for university or put on a track that leads to a skilled career. While we often complain that our system is too lax, we feel bad for any European late bloomers deprived of greater choice. Nonethelss, there we stood on a gorgeous day, waiting as results came over Lanna's fax line. Lanna had pulled out a bottle of champagne and Mags, the girls' mother, came into the kitchen to report that one girl had done really well and the other's results were just coming in. "Please, God, let it be good," she said, crossing herself. "I'm going to have a heart attack," Lanna said. I looked at Christopher, poised over a bowl of Cocoa Pops and the lump hardened a little in my throat. Hooray! Excellent results for both and we all sipped a glass of champagne as Maebh and Orlagh wiped tears and grinned the very best kind of shy grins - the ones that come from so far inside, you're not sure anyone else can see them. They talked about the exams, about the courses they'd take for the next few years, and we talked some about the American process of geting into college. The lump loosened a bit in my throat and I hoped that come April, we'd be having a toast to Christopher's success at getting in to the college of his choice. In the meantime, well done, Maebh and Orlagh. blog comments powered by Disqus  |
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