Have you ever had the experience, where you hear, talk or see something and get an idea, and the same thing happens in some other form the very same day. A kind of deja vu, but very real.
I was chatting with a few friends in our free time, when two of them were having a debate on the public school system in US. I kept on listening where one of them mentioned, how the public school system is getting worse by the day.
The natural question was "why?". Out of a couple of reasons, my friend was particularly unhappy about the politically correct grading system in schools. A grading system where even the brightest students don't get an A in a course because it makes the worst of the students feel bad. In order that no one feels left behind or stupid, none of the students are really graded, thus keeping everyone on the same level (at least on paper). DISCLAIMER: This is something I have heard, so it is second hand knowledge, but I imagine it is not far from reality.
The very same night, I was watching the movie 3 idiots. There is a scene in the movie, where Aamir Khan cracks the exams and is the top student in class. As an honor of those who topped the exams, they were seated besides the college dean in the annual photograph, to which Aamir's character objects saying "it is akin to caste system where a few get the front row while others are pushed behind; and it is not the right thing to do to display the results of an entire class on a notice board, thus making the failure of a few students public".
The first reaction to this scene from the movie might be approving. But when you think about what my friend said and imagine that happening to you, it becomes evident that political correctness in the grading system takes out the incentive to excel. The desire to do better than others, the urge to take efforts, the importance of hard work can quickly erode in a student, in any human, if it is not going to pay off.
How about this? If in a 100m dash, if there was not a gold medal to be won, would any of the athletes be as fast? Would I have remembered the name Usain Bolt, if he had not broken the world record? Peer pressure, social stigma as well as self-esteem and prestige are such real emotions that they will drive us to do better and invent iPhones, satellites and facebooks. It is the source of our progress. Let it not die in the process of political correctness.
Before wrapping up my social rant, I will quote another scene from 3 idiots, which contradicts Aamir Khan's previously quoted thought. At the end of the movie, the college dean awards Aamir with a special pen that the dean had reserved for a truly outstanding student for decades. Aamir is naturally proud to receive it. Talk about making others feel bad now!
Well there are schools my cousins are studying in where everyone get their grades in a closed envelope and the toppers get the certificate saying they topped sealed too. The point is we havnt lived in the world where the incentive is scoring as much as you can stretching your limits and not wanting to score just one mark more than all the rest!
ReplyDeleteThat desire to to score marks more than others makes us forget the essential reason why we go to schools! To learn and not to beat others.
I conclude by saying that school is NOT A 100m DASH and it should never turn into one. The only person a student should seek to beat is himself/herself.
We roomates have indulged in lot of discussions (meant to be discussions but turn into arguments).
ReplyDeleteThe reason for us arguing is based in our grading systems on which we have been brought up.
The point of talking to most is to prove others wrong and win the argument and not to challenge their own ideas and give everyone a food for thought!
It is so bad that in sports the term "playing with passion" is confused with "fighting with authorities and opponents to win"
I believe that passionate players give their all to the team. But it does not mean that they cannot respectfully disagree with others.
Other issue that is also a product of our competitive childhood is that our sense of humor most often has been limited to ridiculing others. Its been a while since i have laughed at a funny situation not involving someone being made as ass.
What we term as "human nature" has actually been the way we have been brought up as students. A different schooling can lead to few more people in the world whose definition of excellence is much more than "being better than others"
I really liked both of the comments.
ReplyDeleteI agree to a great extent that there should be an emphasis on excellence, than on being one step ahead of others and being mediocre overall.