Lost in the rat race-

“There is a ruthlessly competitive world outside and in this world, everyone wants to become scholars and toppers.” In recent times we are all running rat races that have embraced the ‘top’ slot as something that is a ‘must have’ in itself. Nowadays schools, colleges, universities are in the rat race of achieving the number one position instead of providing a better quality of education and because of this, there is an increase in the number of dropout rates.

It is well said that in competition, Coming to the number one position is easy but what it takes to be number one and then sustain it is difficult. Everyone in the society, our school teachers, our family members always emphasize us score above 90 percent. Below 90 percent students are always given the title of “Average Student”. Most of our parents have such kind of perception and they say that make friends who are very excellent and intelligent in studies.

It’s okay to be just okay at something and not be a part of a rat race

There are two types of students one is known as Maximize student and the other is known as  Satisfier.  For example, a student has scored 97 percent in his board exams but he/she is not happy about their performance as he/she has the urge to score more. This is the attitude of a maximize student. The maximize student gets disappointed and is not happy with all they actually have and create a very competitive rat race environment. Whereas a student who scores average marks in his/her board exam is very satisfied because the healthiest competition occurs when the average student win by putting above average.

Grades do not define intelligence-

There are Multiple Intelligence’s and each individual has something unique. All it takes is the right instrument to measure and nurture it. Let’s take hobbies for example.

Importance of Hobbies for students-

A hobby is defined as an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure. During our childhood, our parents have enrolled us in many hobby classes such as drawing class, music class, dance class, etc. Some of our parents might have enrolled us in swimming class, cricket class, football class, etc. So basically hobbies refresh our minds by creating new ideas and bringing good vibes to human beings. There are few children who are really passionate and dedicate to their hobbies that they want to excel in it and want to become pursue their hobby as their career. But is commonly observed that when we are in our teenage we tend to lose interest in these activities. Children might lose interest in their hobbies.

Parents force their children to leave their activity classes and enroll them in tuition because parents want their children to score good marks in a competitive world. After the children finish their primary schooling the school curriculum mainly focuses on academic studies. There can be seen a visible change in the reduction of co-curricular activities and hence students feel disinterested in studying the same subjects( literature, mathematics, science). Such kind of curriculum needs to be changed. Both hobby classes and academics should be given equal attention during school. When the hobby classes are introduced to school children it will encourage the students to consider their hobbies as a professional course in a competitive world. The advantages of introducing hobby classes in our school curriculum will be of greater benefits to children in terms of:-

1-Hobbies offer new challenges and experiences. Work-related challenges are often accompanied by stress and the pressure to be the best at work. During your hobby classes, you can enjoy the process of learning something new without feeling discouraged and in today’s world, you need to improve your skills to sustain tough competition.

2-Hobbies are a great stress reliever. It’s a healthy and productive distraction from work or personal troubles. You may find a hobby that you are good enough at that you can make sales for extra income.

3-Your hobbies and interests can make a big impact on your resume while applying for jobs and internships. Because they (hobby) reveal more of your personality and can highlight desirable traits and skills to employees.

Hence hobbies play an important role in an individual’s life.

ProTeen allows a person to explore themselves and their talents and helps to build self-confidence and improve your self-esteem.

Author – Nikunj Gaggar

Register with ProTeen to make the right career decisions.