Imperfect Grades, Crushed Dreams!

‘Grades‘ – the most dreaded term for almost all the students in the world. In today’s world with such a cut-throat competition, everyone strives to score the best grades in every examination. This term is given the highest importance by one in every two persons. But are the grades that important? Do they deserve such a hype?

Let us first get the general idea of how education works in our country –

The education (schooling) of an individual starts at around 3-4 years of age. First, most of the “good” schools interview the child for basic knowledge and his parents to know how they will contribute to his learning. Then for around 12 years basic education is received by the child and his grades in his latest examination will determine if he will get good quality education further or no; because all the quality education providers rely on your examination grades to take decision on your admission, unless you fall under any reservation category of course! This system continues till the last stage of your education. Now repeat the question you asked earlier. Do marks deserve such a hype? Well, the answer is partly ‘yes’ and partly ‘no’. But again, do these grades determine your strengths? The answer is a clear NO.

Passing the examinations and getting good grades is merely a matter of some tricks. Most of the toppers have guessed or rather predicted the questions in the examination way before and have prepared smartly to stand where they are. No doubt this needs efforts too. But these efforts don’t exhibit your actual strength.

Another big factor of scoring good grades in examination is a good fortune. Sometimes, in a stressed time, we prepare for only a certain set of questions and luckily the same appear in your test paper. I was one such student. My best friend was such a smart kid in studies and I never understood a single word in the class. She took her studies very seriously. I, on the other hand, didn’t take any class tests, practice tests or revision sessions seriously. But at the end of the day, it was me who scored better grades than my best friend. This was merely a result of smart study. Her concepts were way clearer than mine. Do you think just scoring good in some tests make me intellectually smarter than her? Not at all. At any given point of time knowledge is greater than grades.

So basically, grades rarely display the strengths of a ward. There are so many more factors that determine the real strength or ability of the ward that are not at all taken into consideration in the process of evaluation. Grades are indeed important for the first quarter of your life. But that’s not who you really are. The number of loopholes in the system strain all the necessary aspects of the process making it hollow.

School is the most essential part of one’s life. An individual actually spends around 15-18 years of his entire life in school. That’s a pretty huge commitment, isn’t it? All these years are successfully invested or wasted, depending on the type of schooling received. Teaching the basics, reading-writing,  counting, etc. is all okay.. But is that it? Is this all life has? No! Schools definitely prepare you for your social life as well. But ‘how well?’ is the big question.

Vocational courses are always looked down upon in our society. We want to build a society of worms – bookworms – and just abandon the colors of life. Many of the dreamers are abruptly awoken just because their dreams are not acceptable to our society. And by society I mean our parents, teachers, mentors and of course our long-lost relatives from across the seas. Because impressing them is way more important than impressing ourselves, right?

At such a tender age, children must be molded to the best of THEIR skills, the skills that they are fortunate enough to be possessing. But unfortunately, there’s no good platform for such kids to emerge. Most of them don’t even know where to start from, or who would be the best to walk them further on the path of their choice.

It makes me sad to see so many dreams crush on a day-to-day basis. Why do our children have to fight with us to get what they deserve? It just takes a little open mind and your attention towards your child to make his life happier and keep him from emotional breakdowns, low self-esteem and becoming a ZOMBIE! Get involved in your child’s interests, know his passion and encourage him in getting closer to HIS or HER goal rather than yours. Search for a suitable school/university (yes there are some) that do provide platforms for students in courses other than the regular academics. Do the best you can for the better future of your child. After all, nobody wants their child dead from within just working like a robot, right?

Author – Richa Singh