Friday, July 30, 2010

Pressure or no pressure…

This is inspired from reading the newspaper this morning. (Perhaps it’s one of the ways of overcoming a blogger’s block!)

Well, it was about the ongoing SSC admissions that have finally begun after an eternity of waiting. A whopping 13500 students scored 90% or more this year compared to Karnataka’s 7000 odd whereas UP and Bihar have 2 and 4 students scoring more than 90%. Andhra Pradesh leads the pack with 140,000 students crossing the coveted threshold. During my school days, there wasn’t even a single student in 15 years who had breached the 90% mark but now the smarty’s list at school is inundated with ninety percenters. This is so reminiscent of the ‘.com’ or the 'stock exchange’ bubble. This is also a bubble waiting to be burst.

While the parents of the super kids would be gloating over the success of their kids, little do they realise that their kids might find it very difficult to end up in colleges of their choice despite having scored so heavily in the examinations. One can’t blame the Kids for that because it seems that the entire state is scoring in the 90s now-a-days. By the time the kids get a grasp of what’s happening they are already past school and doing something they don’t want to do.

student

What’s more ironical about this ‘90% era’ is the increasing number of protests about the pressure of studying in a school or the weight of a school bag. When we were in school we used to carry the same number of books and the teachers used to spank as well. And the State hadn’t started the much anticipated dumbing down processes as well.

However, there is no denying the fact that there is more pressure on the students now than ever before. However, the source of this pressure is rarely due to a heavy bag or a ‘strict’ teacher, it is more often than not the Parents themselves. Nowadays, kids are enrolled in everything possible right from Hindustani Classical Singing to Salsa, Cricket and Acting classes. Mostly, just to assuage a wealthy Parent’s ego.

Rarely do we see kids chasing butterflies. Or dreams. And that’s the real problem.

6 Grumblings:

Meera's World said...

Nice post.Our kid is studying IGCSE,since we came in the mid of school yr.Now we r thinking of how to get him to plus 1 next yr since their results will be out later than the reg admission time:).
Not much children has time for sitting idle at home ayyo,and i think i might be the only mom who wont let my kid stay late to study, exams or no exams he needs his sleep,is my goal:).So at 9 he must go n sleep,except on weekends. I guess may be iam not that cruel;_)

ketki said...

nice. But u can do much btr.
i could spot a lot of redundancy
Ended well...

Sikander Fayyaz Khan said...

That world is fast becoming a very unsafe place for kids. My lil girl is in Pre-School and everyday my wife comes back with the stories of moms already worried about how their toddlers were or were not doing or how teachers were neglecting them and all. It's almost stupid how parents pressurize their kids theses day, and frankly I care less.

Anchal said...

Heya, buddy good subject..
I think it was unfair on the part of university to decide the best 5 without informing the students about the same. It is unfair to that student who is a master across & only 5 subjects would be counted.
I think its not a good idea to continue with the same policy......

Anchal said...

Heya, good subject buddy....
I think it was unfair on the part of authorities to choose Best 5 regime, without prior informing the most concerned party to the issue, The students.
What about the student who studied all the subjects & tried to master them?

The Sleeping Dragon said...

I reckon, we should just be able to let kids be kids. these days, I don't see kids having much of that...but I could be wrong.