Grades – Just One Dimension

Our whole education system has always focused on how much marks you have scored. There has always been an inclination that if you get good marks you are intelligent and if you have scored poorly you are not a good student. There has always been some fixation about analyzing a student through these marks and grades. But the problem is getting good marks does not always relate to intelligence. From the very beginning we have been taught that get good marks, get in good college you will get better job, and this creates an unnecessary pressure in our mind. Anyone can get good marks through cramping everything. Marks are always important, but the learning the students get is also important. Students must learn something so that they can apply this in future. They must be able to apply what they have learnt in real life situations.

Let’s look at a common situation which most of the student’s face. You as a student always focus in the classroom, knows everything that the teacher has taught in the class, but when it come to exams you stress out, you suffer from anxiety. You tend to forget things you have learnt in exam hall and end up scoring low marks. This hampers your confidence. But this does not mean you are not intelligent. The situation may always not be appropriate for you, sometimes you loose focus and your emotions may take control.

It’s not always about reading or memorizing the material, it’s about knowing what it means, what is its significance. You can get good grades by writing what you have memorized, but have you really learned anything new. Possibility is that you have not. So, marks may affect your short-term success at best but in the long term it would not help at all. For you mind working you need to challenge yourself, in doing something new.

Grades are just one dimensional. They just look at your academics. But different people have different mindset and different abilities which cannot be solely judged by the grades. There are many variables apart from grade that you need to completely assess yourself. For e.g., You may be inclined towards computer, so you should take a course in computer programming so that it opens yourself to new opportunities. And your grades will never tell you about your interests.

Now-a-days intelligence is not about just academics. More and more focus has now been given to emotional intelligence and mental health as well. That’s because every field requires a different set of skills. And grades cannot be an indicator of all the skills required.

Imagine if you are sitting in a class and you do not care about what they are teaching you, and more so you will also not try to try and learn that as well. So important thing is you do what you are passionate about, do something which you feel connected to. Only then you will be able to make your time count. Otherwise whatever you do will not matter.

Hobbies are activities which we like to do when we are free. These are things we take interest in when we want to take a break from everything. We cannot keep stressing ourselves every day, everybody needs something through which they can take their mind off, refresh themselves. We develop these hobbies in our childhood. Remember those summer holidays where we used to take swimming classes, or dance or music lessons tries to learn as many new things as we can. And there is always a possibility that some of us really develop a great interest in these activities.

But then after a few months we had to drop them because of school and other important stuff. Education for everybody has always been about books, attending classes etc. From the beginning children have been taught the same subjects as Maths, Physics, Accountancy etc. Maybe earlier these systems have worked well for everyone. But now-a-days things have changed a lot. People have started focus on more practical knowledge, its not always about bookish knowledge.

It is about what students know apart from what they have been taught in school. So, it’s time to focus on something different, it’s time to focus on what can we do to make education more interesting. Students should now be allowed to gain extensive knowledge on what they have interest in. This will allow them to improve their learning. Everybody knows that when you do something which you feel is interesting your capability increases, your ability to learn increases. Schools have always focused on academics, without giving much emphasis on other co-curricular activities. Education is of course very important for everyone. But it’s also important to focus on the learning itself.

If hobbies are introduced as a part of regular curriculum, students will feel more involved in their studies. It will offer them an opportunity to learn something new and something interesting. They can take is a new challenge for themselves. During these classes they can learn what they want without feeling any pressure whatsoever. For college going students attending extra classes always adds up to their resume. These adds up to the skills which will help them to get a better job. Students can develop these hobbies at a level where they can also earn some extra income without much effort. They work as a stress buster. Being able to learn something you really like at a professional level builds up the confidence level.

Hence the hobbies play a very important role in the lives of the students academic. They can explore their skills, explore themselves.

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Author – Ashwat Jain