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Good morning. It’s A-level results week. Tensions are sky high. No one who’s taken A-levels forgets where they were, how they felt, who they told, and the confusion of whether to say well done, bad luck, that’s amazing – or just, sorry. This year there’s a complex extra layer: assignment of results for exams not taken. The moderation of this process risks revealing aspects of privilege and injustice, as has caused concern in Scotland. I once sat down with some people aged 27 to 62. We drew a pulse-graph of our high and low points of being fully alive. Every one of us had a peak moment between 17 and 23. That’s where your mind’s appetite is sharpest and your thirst for discovery is greatest. The fear about A-levels is, the wrong results can inhibit this precious period of life. Education’s always a balance between the pragmatic and the romantic. The pragmatic says time is short, problems are many. Education is about gaining enough skills and experience to secure our future and give those around us a helping hand. The romantic says study is a form of love. The attention to detail, the appreciation of difference, the open mind that looks down a microscope or up into the stars: these are glories in themselves, and go beyond the utilitarian acquisition of knowledge. You can see education as a contract, where you pay your taxes or fees, and in return receive instructions, tools and equipment to carry out a life’s work. Or you can see it as a covenant, where a teacher comes to know you well enough to say, ‘This is worth reading,’ and wins your trust, or ‘You can really do this,’ and casts a vision that lasts your whole life long. There’s a good reason why Christian mission has always focused on schools and hospitals. Because medicine and education are where change most regularly happens: where you daily see healing, wonder, inspiration and transformation. Jesus was 30 years old when he started his public ministry. He grew up in a carpentry business. But it wasn’t joinery that taught him to dispute with lawyers and politicians. He spent those 30 years immersing himself in the scriptures and the learning of his day. Even if he didn’t have A-levels to show for it. Education is indeed about qualifications. And it’s certainly about inspiration. But it’s also about power. Education changes people, and those people change the world – for everyone. If we want not just to survive the pandemic, but thrive after it, the secret lies in education.