Examinations: What Do We Make Of Them?
The very mention of examinations brings about a feeling of anxiety, nervousness and tension, more so for parents than students. Over the last decade or so, this has become more apparent, with the mounting pressures and increasing competition inherent with every new generation. Though we would love to believe that competition is good for growth, the facts don't exactly support this belief.
In the good old days of yore, boys were sent to ashrams to study, and their gurus gave them individual attention. But today, teachers and students are under constant pressure to run through the vast syllabus by the time exams begin. They get no time to delve into the nuances, or the profundity of what they study. The need for quick-fix solutions has given rise to various coaching classes and private tutors, most of whom don't really help matters, as education is purely a commercial venture to most of them.
'Weak students' thus remain 'weak', not really getting a chance to improve scores, whereas the 'bright ones', who manage to keep up with the rat race, move ahead. Examinations do not quite test students on all their skills and abilities, but focus mainly on testing retention skills. They are a poor indicator of knowledge and therefore an ineffective criterion to judging a child's performance.
Except for a few schools and streams, the methodology used to educate
children today barely leads to an enriching form of education. It
focusses more on rote learning and this leads to prospects of brighter
futures for students good at memorising and reproducing at examinations.
While this is not necessarily true, many students suffer from low
self-esteem and are unable to make much of themselves due to the reinforced
thought. This, in itself, is a vicious cycle.
The need of the hour is a system that, along with dispelling such
myths, will help children grow and educate themselves in the true
sense of the word. And there seems to be hope as a lot of schools
and institutions today have implemented new and effective approaches
to education. Transformation of the entire education system may take
years or even decades, but the path is being paved towards a system
that will bring about the change we all desire.
|
