"I know that I was not the only one who made a deal with one of the kids at school who suffered from ADHD to buy Ritalin to increase our concentration. Nor, too, that I was alone in suffering from regular panic attacks, fluctuating dramatically in weight, practicing self-harm or isolating myself from friends and family in the pursuit of perfect exam scores."
"That a school should value its brand and reputation over the wellbeing and learning of its students is unacceptable. No exam result or ranking system is more important than the process of learning itself. Exam marks don’t necessarily determine one’s success."
"But I will say that at a time when my mind, my outlook and my personality were developing, I was not in an environment where happiness was valued over success, where learning was valued over achievement."
"It took me five years of working, studying and meeting other people outside my high school peer group to discover that my outlook on life, success, achievement and happiness were somehow different."