As a student just out of sixth form, I’ve enjoyed the perspective I’ve gained - even in these few weeks - of school life. As with any activity that you allow to occupy most of your life (though I concede that for many, it is less a case of ‘allowing’ than of ‘grudgingly bearing’), it is all too easy to be caught up in the busy routines of normality without the necessary time to work out your priorities, perspectives, or focuses. Looking back, my concern is that for many students entering secondary school without clear personal standards of behaviour or priorities, our current educational system does not adequately encourage these or prompt students to consider them.

If I were to list qualities that I would hope would be nurtured in students during their time in education, I would take my queue from Galatians 5 and list love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Now I would contrast this with qualities that often appear to be promoted or unwittingly encouraged by our educational system: individualism, selfishness, stress, and sometimes dishonesty (though clearly the situation is not this black and white; many schools nurture students excellently in the qualities in Galatians).

We are learning facts and skills, yes, but our system is not build to grow us healthily as people. Generally, I have found that this comes from interaction with certain fellow students or the unrewarded but immensely valuable input of overworked teachers doing their best for us within a system in desperate need of reform.

Hannah Lawson (Dallam School), of St Thomas’ Church, Kendal

Christians in Education is the theme for Christian Viewpoint during September