It’s a strange world. You spend years at school studying all sorts of subjects, then at 16 you’re suddenly expected to pick three that will shape the next 50 years of your life. That’s a big decision to make when you’re still figuring out who you are.
It’s wild how one choice at 16 can seemingly decide your future. It feels like the next headline at a roast could be: “Teen entrepreneur dreams crushed – now works in a garden centre.”
And honestly, what’s the logic behind choosing so young? Most 16-year-olds barely know what they want for lunch, let alone what they want to do for a career.
I picked Maths, thinking I’d be good at it. Fast forward to now, I’m predicted a D. Not exactly ideal as I finish Year 12.
Studies show around 30% of students give up when things get hard, often because of a fixed mindset
Of course, there’s time to turn it around – an academic comeback, maybe. But when your last result was an E, doing that alone feels impossible.
People say: “Get a tutor” (for £50 an hour?), “Ask your teacher” (when I can barely understand them), or “Try harder” (is there water under the bridge?). Sounds simple, right? But no one explains how to do that.
It’s frustrating. The assumption that it’s easy to just “try harder” is demotivating. Studies show around 30% of students give up when things get hard, often because of a fixed mindset that convinces them they’re not improving.
And then you start to wonder: is any of this even worth it? I’m sat at my desk, eye twitching, stressing over quadratic equations I’ll probably never use – unless I’m the next Alan Turing, which I’m not.
Maybe I’m just not wired for this. And that’s OK, is it? Because the system makes it feel like if you’re not getting A*s, you’re heading straight to burger-flipping.
Young people in ‘desperate need of help’ with their finances, says Iona Bain
But here’s the thing: 40–50% of graduates end up in jobs unrelated to their degree. So maybe there’s hope.
Still, the whole tutoring game feels unfair. £40 an hour? That’s not support, that’s privilege. If you can pay, you get ahead. If not, good luck.
Education’s meant to be the great equaliser. But private tutoring builds a two-tier system: one with help, one without. As a broke 17-year-old with a fiver to my name, it stings.
And it makes me think: is money the real enabler of success? It buys connections, confidence and opportunity. It can even buy your degree, if you’re up for 30 years of student debt.
Maybe success isn’t about having a plan. Maybe it’s about not knowing. About curiosity
Yet some people – like Walt Disney – made it without all that. He didn’t have money, but he had vision. He once said: “We keep moving forward… curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” I couldn’t put it better.
Maybe success isn’t about having a plan. Maybe it’s about not knowing. About curiosity. About showing up, even when you’re failing maths. Maybe it’s just surviving a system that often forgets we’re people – not grades or UCAS forms.
I’m 17. I don’t have it all figured out. Maybe I never will. And maybe that’s exactly the point.
Hannah Chan is a Year 12 work experience student at Money Marketing
