A chance comment by my friend got me thinking.. The comment on how the system of education at her institute was designed to help the students survive, "no matter where they are thrown".. And the pressure to perform..
A similar sentiment was in the movie 3 Idiots, which I watched again yesterday... Though the movie was good, there was something which I felt was a bit unrealistic - it is not always a case of parental pressure... Having had the good fortune of an education without parental pressure, I felt that it's not fair to generalize it..
I do not deny that there is tremendous pressure on students, but there are ways of coping with it, and not all pressure is unnecessary or bad, some of it is good. But going by recent figures, suicide seems to be the solution of choice for the smallest problem, the least failure... As one of my close friends put it, "most students who commit suicide do not realize that their parents would prefer a failed child to a dead one"... Maybe we should take a leaf out of Edison's book, and take a different perspectiv on failure.. "I did not find 999 wrong ways of making a light bulb, I found 999 ways how not to go about it" (Maybe I haven't quoted him verbatim, the gist is right)...
On a totally different aspect, I realize that I was lucky in that I had a real childhood, with outdoor games (which involved loads of running around, screaming, roaming about with a big group of kids) (summer holidays would see us at home only during meal breaks, and then bedtime, while the monsoons and winter meant it was time for indoor games (still with the big noisy messy group) punctuated by tea/coffee and snacks) [Here, I'm talking about the fun we kids had, it was a different tale with our mother, who had to feed us and bear the noise and mess] .. (I see most of today's kids glued to a screen - TV or computer, when they are free from school/college and tuitions and homework , but then maybe my sample size is too small) ...
And more importantly (in my opinion), we had real lives, more than virtual ones... The plants that we watered and the fishes that we took care of were real, and not raised on FB (sorry, I'm not very keen on FB), and so were our neighbours and friends... I'm not saying I'm against social networking, or technological advances (given that I'm in the field of science).. I only wish that my real life continues to be as good as it has been so far, without the virtual life taking over...
That's all for now....
(P.s.: For those who have read this fully, thanks a lot for your patience!!! )
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Parental pressures are always there, but it's up to the child to think and come with his own actions which will be liked by all.
ReplyDeleteI would have been happier if you could suggest ways out to stop the waivering thoughts of children.
A good one...