Assistant Principal (Secondary)

Tap and Go; too easy?!

Convenience isn’t always the best option. When writing feedback for student work, I often write that students need more detail. This is not to say that they don’t know the answer; rather, they need to expand on the answers they’ve been given. Similarly, when teachers are marking Maths tests, the student must show all their working, they can’t just give the answer. Even if they write the correct answer, they won’t get full marks without showing their working out. Taking the easy option is not always the best option.

Similarly, at a service station, they used to have the ‘tap and go’ option at the bowser. Many stations have since removed them as the easy option is not always the best option. Service stations found that more people were stealing fuel; often mistakenly, as they thought they had used the tap and go feature or because they forgot to use the tap and go feature.  The best option was to remove the easy option and return to people having to go into the service station to pay. While this adds a few minutes to the average trip to the station, it has meant that the stations are having to worry less about people stealing fuel. When looking forward to the rest of the year, it’s best to keep in mind that the easy option or the path of least resistance is not always best. 

As many of our Year 12 students are approaching the end of their time at Aitken, I encourage them to persist, to have resilience, to make sure that they finish well and strongly. They are so close to the finish line, that the ‘easy option’ (to not study or work hard) is definitely not the best option. There are many staff who will happily spend time going over concepts and helping students in their own time. This is a great part of the culture at Aitken. 

Our prayers and thoughts go out to them as they approach the final stretch of their schooling. Finish Strong!

Mr Chris Graham

Assistant Principal (Secondary)