Hi °C | Lo °C Even now, 20-odd years later, the thought of exam results sends a shiver down the spine.
Waiting for the postman or nervously reading from a sheet of paper carefully sellotaped to a classroom window was never an enjoyable experience, and I doubt the feelings of dread have changed much now that the internet is the preferred choice for delivery.
But now the results are known and the dust can begin to settle.
Those students going to university may be considered lucky, as they're giving the economy at least three years to recover before seeking work.
For those going into work things aren't as rosy, as this week's youth unemployment figures show, but then they won't be saddled with a huge debt made up of tuition fees.
Whatever the route to the job market and however long it takes, there's no doubt the business leaders of tomorrow will be entering an economic landscape vastly different to the one that existed when they started secondary school. We need to make sure these potential CEOs, bricklayers and bankers don't make the same mistakes our generation made during the boom times, such as overleveraging, relying too much on credit and living beyond our means.
On the one hand that lesson is writ large on the pages of any basic economics text book but on the other we're encouraging our undergraduates to immediately take on debts at university.
That could be a prescription for future meltdown but hopefully the scald marks of the deepest recession the country has ever experienced will stick in the minds of the people we'll be talking about in these pages in a few years.
