By Andrew Mackinnon
Secondary school students should no longer apply for places at university before they finish their last year of school, being Year 12 in secondary school. It is completely unrealistic for students to be expected to know what they want to study at university before they have even finished Year 12. Applying for places at university before they finish Year 12 places additional, unwelcome pressure on them at a time when they are already under a lot of pressure from studying for their final examinations in Year 12. Applying for a place at university before they finish Year 12 also psychologically commits them to further study at university, often commencing in the following year, at a time when they have almost finished thirteen years of school under the current school system, including the year of kindergarten. It is grossly unfair to place a cultural expectation on secondary school students in Year 12 of further study at university, often commencing in the following year, when they have almost finished a marathon run of thirteen years of school under the current school system.
Under the current school system, many of the students who apply for a place at university while they are in their last year of school, being Year 12 in secondary school, do so not because they actually want to attend university in the year following Year 12, but because they feel pressured to conform to an expectation placed on them by their school and their parents to apply for a place at university while they are in Year 12. It is very important that students in their last year of school, being Year 12, are relieved of this expectation and pressure that has been unreasonably and unfairly placed upon them.