by Jade McClafferty
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by Jade McClafferty
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By Jade McClafferty
A right of passage they proclaim as the preach to us of the Leaving Certificate. It’s easily carried, but my backs broke.
I sat my Leaving Certificate in 2019 after two years of studying. My fate however was chosen before I sat my first exam. While we all looked towards the two weeks in June an application was slid under our noses. The CAO. I remember my first meeting with my guidance counsellor, ironic that she herself studied an irrelevant course. She took out my grades, a high-achieving student she concluded “You should study medicine”. If you’re an academic, go for dentistry actuary or veterinary. My young ears absorbed this, and my young head nodded.
At eighteen I was told to pick my future and chose a career. I filled out my CAO as instructed, highest points first in descending order. Before I knew it there was no room for that degree in fine art and the nearest medicine courses were three hundred miles from the banks of the Foyle where I was raised
I left down my paintbrush I picked up another textbook, I read less, I wrote less, I lived less. So often we are led down avenues because we are capable. Academia is valued more than art
They always said I had brains to burn, well now I’m burnt
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