Does exams evaluate the entire capacity of a child?

 I've been wanting to write about this for a longer time, but was awaiting for the

right moment to put this across. As there are a few bad incidents that happened around the world and in the same country, also with the GCE Ordinary Level Results being released day before yesterday, I thought I'd rather put this across, so that people who read this will have a broader perspective on this matter, without having the traditional sort of mentality always. The important reason why I wanted to write this urgently was something that gave me an indication that this is the time, where I heard a virtual discussion amidst a class. This really brought me to reality, I have been postponing the writing of my blog for sometime because I had no free time to initiate one, but now I thought even amidst my busy schedule, I'll write one.

So, the other day, during paper discussion, an opinion came through from the students across to myself. They told that they were being judged for their marks in the examination, and they undergo pressure when they get to know that they have made a small mistake while answering certain questions. I always want a student to be able to to communicate with the teacher about anything and everything that they are facing and I was happy to be addressing an issue related to the pressure that students are going through in terms of of academics. So my reply was, "academics and education is always not going to be based on marks and achievements, it's about the wisdom and knowledge that you have gained through what you've been taught. The wisdom cannot be tested through neither physical nor virtual examinations. Wisdom of the education depends upon how you apply the knowledge gained in your life, and how you react upon actions of others as well as yourselves. Getting certificates of commendation, and general excellence ain't going to buy you a job, as certificates are not counted neither has it been checked. What matters in order to obtain a job is how fair you excel in the interview and how smart you answer questions asked, and how well you demonstrate your self. Yeah, agree the fact that people around you, May it be your neighbors or even relatives are going to be like, you study in an international or private or famous school yet score only this mark? These judgmental comments whether you study well or not is going to be passed.  Because they think that they are entitled judge anyone based on anything. They don't realize the fact that their children or grand children also will be judged the same later or sooner. Karma! You'll as students should have one motive clear in your mind. Understand the concepts that are taught, apply them in your daily life, and take wisdom out of it, rather than relying and comparing marks and grades with others."

The students agreed and I am sure they will try their best to put in effort to study well, but at the same time they would also have that awareness and mentality that marks the is just a number that people use to evaluate their intellectual power, and not the knowledge. Let me just bring the two incidents that came to my notice a week ago, to all your attention and notice. I don't think you'll even have heard of these incidents and that's what bring me to the verge to communicate about it.

I am not going to expose the name of any individual here. But there was this girl who's parents were both teachers, elder brothers are all doctors. She was a bright child, has had participated in all the competitions and was placed first, was first in class always, got 9A's and 3A's respectively in her O/L's and A/L's respectively. She got through to medical, and was in her first year, in 2021. So we know they have been conducting lectures virtually and I guess have had the first semester examination through virtual format too. She received her first semester marks and she had obtained lower score (63, which according to me is a decent score, must be C grade). She couldn't bear the fact that she got the mark for her first semester, she didn't even talk about it with her parents, she suicides not being able to to bear the fact that she has stopped lower in her academics. I could think of reasons why she decided to end her life. Not that I am justifying her decision, but let me just put this across and then you'll will know what I am talking about .

1. She hasn't been defeated in her life. All what she has faced is victory and success. There hasn't been any instance where she had scored lower marks either, so didn't know how it felt like when you study hard but get lower marks.

2. The designations and the occupations that her parents and siblings hold would have driven her to this decision. Her ambition was to become a doctor. If you want to qualify as a doctor, you've got to clear all the exams with distinction. According to her academic performance, she would have definitely wanted to be the batch topper, to become one ain't easy, you've got to be leading in terms of marks and gradings always. So getting a C grade wouldn't give rise to to being the topper. She would have been disappointed with herself, and she would have thought that her parents and siblings would look down on her for what she has scored. I guess there would be have been sort of a pressure given from the family side too, and unable to face them, she would have decided against all the odds.

3. The society rumors'. Of course, my guess is that she would have been devastated to face the society, her relatives, her neighbors. I mean, they all would definitely know how bright, smart and intelligent this child is. Once they get to know the marks, they would be definitely judging her. The child would have been a person who likes to be always appreciated and judged in a positive manner, but after this people are going to be spreading false rumors' about her character, so she would have done this.

We seriously don't know what she was going through at that moment. These are just assumptions, and not written in the intention to hurt anyone's personal feelings.

Let me get to another incident before I go in further details. 

Two weeks ago, a NEET aspirant (National Eligibility and Entrance Test) from
TamilNadu, India, named Kanimozhi, died of suicide over fear that she might not pass the medical entrance exam for which she appeared on Sunday. She had topped the class 12 board exams. With high expectations that she would crack NEET 2021 too, Kanimozhi had told her father, Karunanidhi, that her performance in the exam could turn out to be below par. Despite her father’s reassurances that the results would be positive, Kanimozhi had taken the extreme step, local police said. The controversy over NEET has been deepening with continuing suicides by aspirants in Tamil Nadu. On the day of the exam on September 12, another NEET 2021 aspirant from Tamil Nadu, Dhanush from Salem had hung himself from the ceiling fan of his room over a similar fear that he might not pass the test. This is purely political, hence I would like to bring certain things that are to be considered seriously. The maximum mark a candidate can get is 720, and a person would be considered eligible only if he/she gets 85% of 720. The entrance exam paper consists of 360 marks of Biology, 180 marks from Physics and 180 from chemistry. It seems that this examination for entrance of medical colleges are based on discriminatory purposes, so students/candidates from rural areas wouldn't be given a chance to enter. Take both the cases that happened. It ain't like these two candidates are weak, they have had a good academic progress, yet they feared to face the result and the examination, they had low self esteem that made them think that they are never going to make it, which drove them towards suicide. I guess, if government lays strict rules to not conduct exams as such, which brings in a lot of pressure in the students which drives them to decisions as such would do good not only to the students, but to their families too. These two candidates come from a backward area, and their only motive was to bring up their family status to being at least lower middle class, who would be able to provide their family with the income that is sufficient to live a day's life peacefully and with minimum happiness. But these examination pressure drives them nuts. I know how it feels like, because, once upon a time I was a student who hated examinations and always on the verge of anxiety when exam dates neared, it's just that I didn't know how to deal with the pressure that arises from your mind and gets to your head.

We have come across incidents where people give up on life and decide to kill themselves for various reasons. But recently, the number of students who commit suicide has increased. This might sound weird, but the reality is that students are our future generation, who would be ruling the world with their discoveries, new technologies and inspiring the following generations. But we are losing the most talented ones just because of these examinations, marks, grades etc. As a Teacher, I am well concerned of the mental health of students. As parents, and institution bodies, I am putting this article across so that everyone reading this would empathize the kids rather than driving them over the edge to get results.

 To all the kids out there, as I told you'll, marks is just a number and grades are just letters. This ain't going to decide your fate. You'll are under the impression that my whole life revolves around the idea of marks and grades. But no, it doesn't, there's a lot that makes each and everyone's life valuable and important. Education is just a part of it, it's not your entire life. There's life after education. Every single day ain't going to be in favor of you'll, there are going to be days that are going to be extremely happy and well, and others where you'd not be comfortable around and gloomy. That's life. Life is not always getting to experience the flavors of victory, one should face defeat too, in order to strive forward in life with even more persistence and effort. Life keeps throwing you to harder paths to travel through, all what matters is whether you are able to survive throughout the entire journey. Basically "Survival of the Fittest"! One's who are able to undergo the pressure through the toughest times would be able to keep up their composure. The rest wouldn't be able to pull through shit, and boom - "SUICIDE!". It's pathetic, because we can't really blame the students nor the parents, we don't know who would be held accountable when we experience trigger warnings such as Suicides, but we can make sure that we could stop this from happening.

If young ones could think about just one thing, they wouldn't be put in a situation where they decide against living. The fact that they decide to kill themselves so that they would escape from all the criticism, get rid of the society, doesn't have to be bothered about being accepted in the community, not being able to get through examinations, but amidst all these factors they will be vanishing from, they have totally forgotten their families. This is sort of a punishment you'll will be putting your parents to go through. For the rest of their lives, they would be worrying over the loss of their loved ones. They would have had a lot of dreams and hopes about their children's life and their future, but they would be understanding at the same time, they wouldn't push you over the boundary when you seem off (this is applied to only certain families). When decisions as such touches your thoughts, it's better to brush them off by thinking about your parents. They are the ones who are the reason behind you being yourselves. Without them we are nothing. Every fibre of our being should be extremely grateful that we are born in this earth. Punishing them in our absence is something overly harsh. I literally feel what these families would go through. Basically the parents would be blamed over your actions. Community would state that the child was not brought up well, and hence the child goes to this extent. Of course, this happens, I myself have heard comments like this passed during wedding events, where people come not to wish the couple but to just sit and gossip over someone's life. So if this could happen with weddings, then funerals are nothing..

To all the parents, it's high time now that you'll teach life lessons to your kids from a very earlier age. I have seen parents who pamper their kids, don't even allow their kids to fall down and get up on their own. They are always present, not allowing the child to explore. The child has to be guided, yes I agree, but not allowing them to explore is the mistake most of the parents make. I am not saying that our parenting methods are wrong, but all I am saying is that to take the broader perspective in terms of bringing up kids. Teach the kids about life. Let them learn how defeat feels like, at the same time encourage them to regain victory by working hard. The 1st child I spoke about never have gone through the pain of failing in life, which I think is a fault from the parent's side. The child, if she was exposed to defeat, she would have taken the mark lightly but definitely would have made sure that she doesn't get marks below par. Teachers also should pay more attention in classrooms, because we would be having more than 30 students in a class, not all students are going to be the same and unique. Everyone would have different absorbing power and capabilities. All five fingers are not the same, but as a teacher we should know how to cater each capabilities of students. We teach students to educate, that's why I believe we are called EDUCATORS. We are not meant to create a competition amongst the fellow class mates. It's okay to have competition, but that shouldn't lead to comparing each others marks and gradings. All of us know that now education  also become the most important business, and all of them are striving towards giving out results. So teachers are also meant to be result oriented, if they don't produce results, they would be considered inefficient. I am sorry, but this is the reality. I don't know how many people I'd be offending here, but I am being honest. I hope most of you'll would be agreeing with this.

We are human beings, not god. We are definitely going to be making mistakes, it can be in academics, at work, in our lives etc. But one should be able to work out their weaknesses and make them your strength. We learn from our mistakes, so that we wouldn't have to make the same mistakes again. That's the moral of life. From our childhood we are learning, until we die we would be still in the process of learning. Life is all about trial error process. You try something out newly, that doesn't necessarily have to work out for you, the way you expected it to be. Sometimes its a great success, at times its vice versa. If it works, then we tend to use that method very often, if not we move to some other technique. If this is put across to the children, they will definitely work on success with a lot more effort and dedication. 

All I wish for is a SUICIDE free, pressure free community, where students are independent and not pressurized to excel well in studies to obtain marks and grades, rather are given all the independence to work on something that they would love to become in future along with their academics. Cheers to all the kids and parents and teachers too. Live and let live!!!