The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Never measure success in terms of marks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 26, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Never measure success in terms of marks

Failure in one examination is not the end of the world for children, say our readers

Too much stress

There is too much stress on young minds.

Many legends such as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Jawaharlal Nehru, according to their biographers, were barely average in academic performance.

Teachers and parents too should go through counselling. This will help them teach students face setbacks with courage and hope to succeed next time.

A. Krishnaswamy,

Basavanagudi

Handle failure

The waste of so many lives soon after examination results are announced should be an eye opener to all.

Students should be encouraged to cultivate proper perspective: failure in one examination is not the end of the world.

Our education system that lays so much emphasis on results of one examination to gauge the intelligence of a child after 10 or 12 years of schooling needs drastic changes. Being competitive means being able to get over failure.

Babita S.,

Indiranagar

Pressure to perform

Children are told they should excel in everything under the sun. Parents, teachers and society pressure them to achieve.

The single faceless examination machine that flattens young people into labelled cards. If the distress signals are heard in time and parents counselled, most students can be prevented from committing suicide.

Jacob Abraham,

D.B Sandra

Chasing grades

It is good to be competitive but children should not aspire to win at any cost as they are encouraged to do. Parents need to realise that not all intelligent students can get high grades. Counselling of students to cope with failure and become resilient enough to try again is necessary.

Farha M.,

Fraser Town

Go by aptitude

Too often, at the high school or PUC level, students are forced to choose subjects they have no aptitude for studying.

Parents expect every child to become a doctor, an engineer, architect or a computer programmer.

This is just not possible. School and college counsellors should explain to students that there are several other career opportunities.

Poor grades in one examination do not mean that they lack intelligence or the ability to excel.

Sudha Nagaraj,

Malleswaram

Right values

Career aptitude and choices, options of academic studies and personality building, courage in the face of adversity: these are things school and college counsellors should focus on. They should interact with over-ambitious parents.

Just like a sports team should not be judged on the basis of one match, a student should not be judged on the basis of one examination.

Many brilliant people I know passed through supplementary examinations and are at the top of their professions today.

M. Faziuddin,

Shivajinagar

NEXT WEEK: Many students appear to spend too much time in front of the television or browsing internet.

Are the contents of television channels and the internet healthy? Can schools, colleges or parents encourage the reading habit that has almost disappeared?

Readers are invited to email bglreflections@thehindu.co.in or write to Point-Blank, The Hindu, No. 19 and 21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road, Bangalore 560001

Basavanagudi

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