After the release of 2008 public examination results, I had a very complex feeling regarding the future development of two female clients.
One of them got all subjects failed except the Chinese Language. The other one earned 5 distinctions and 4 credits. The former one said that she hated the idea of taking the public exam results as her true abilities therefore she didn't take the whole thing seriously in the past two years.
The other one was so surprised by such good results that she wanted to seriously think over her educational advancement and personal growth. In the past few years, she had been emotionally dependent on her boyfriend who turned out to be bullying her in many different ways, putting her down and intensified her self doubt and low self esteem. The positive results of her public exam were so shocking that she questioned herself if she deserved such poor self esteem and a bully boyfriend who treated her so bad.
Later, it was discovered that she displayed significant delay in her social understanding (e.g. self knowledge, understanding others, taking perspectives, assert for personal right, comprehension of social cues, self reflection, goal-directed behavior etc etc) and that affected social decision making. In other words, she could easily become a target of bullies.
The girl, who got very poor exam results, came from a grass root background and received close guidance and behavioral coaching from her parents. Her social competence was fine.
Amongst others, she was aware of her blindspot and openminded enough to seek on-going self improvement. At the moment, she was doing psychosocial intervention to manage her compulsive thoughts and anxious mood (i.e. all-or-none thinking, negative self beliefs etc).
Both of these two girls had very high potentials. Their future is absolutely not determined by their examination results. As their personal growth and self improvement in making decision and analysing things show significant progress, they can make a turn point in their educational, career and personal growth.
One of them got all subjects failed except the Chinese Language. The other one earned 5 distinctions and 4 credits. The former one said that she hated the idea of taking the public exam results as her true abilities therefore she didn't take the whole thing seriously in the past two years.
The other one was so surprised by such good results that she wanted to seriously think over her educational advancement and personal growth. In the past few years, she had been emotionally dependent on her boyfriend who turned out to be bullying her in many different ways, putting her down and intensified her self doubt and low self esteem. The positive results of her public exam were so shocking that she questioned herself if she deserved such poor self esteem and a bully boyfriend who treated her so bad.
Later, it was discovered that she displayed significant delay in her social understanding (e.g. self knowledge, understanding others, taking perspectives, assert for personal right, comprehension of social cues, self reflection, goal-directed behavior etc etc) and that affected social decision making. In other words, she could easily become a target of bullies.
The girl, who got very poor exam results, came from a grass root background and received close guidance and behavioral coaching from her parents. Her social competence was fine.
Amongst others, she was aware of her blindspot and openminded enough to seek on-going self improvement. At the moment, she was doing psychosocial intervention to manage her compulsive thoughts and anxious mood (i.e. all-or-none thinking, negative self beliefs etc).
Both of these two girls had very high potentials. Their future is absolutely not determined by their examination results. As their personal growth and self improvement in making decision and analysing things show significant progress, they can make a turn point in their educational, career and personal growth.
So what makes a young adult successful in their learning and personal growth? What does the public exam performance tell us about the individual needs of these young adults? And what not? In a word, it is love, care and timely support most fundamental of all. That's what I learnt from my clients, however young and innocent.
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