Marks

 

Bad Morning. It’s time to dress up. Drag yourself to the bathroom. Wear that hideous and ill-fitting

uniform. Pack your bag. Head out with Ma. It’s result day. Every atom of your body is nervous.

Your mind is only revolving around the worst-case scenarios. “Did I perform well enough in History?”

“What if I fail, and Neha passes? Or worse- she is the topper and I missed it by a mark?”

“Why can’t my papers just disappear?” 

Hello, and welcome to the nightmare of every Indian teenager ever!

That was my situation on Saturday. Result Days are always nerve-racking experiences. It’s the same kind of anxiety you get on the day of the exam, except that this one has wilder fantasies. Why is that so? Because marks are a dominating factor in an Indian’s lifetime. The numbers determine your future. Your value is lies within those numbers. 

Now, when you look at it from an Indian Aunty’s perspective, this system sounds quite fair. The able ones go ahead, get what they deserve, because hey, they worked for it. In the long run, marks have importance. After all, good colleges only allow the toppers. The degrees by these colleges often get you well-paid jobs. Once you’ve got a salary, you’re independent.

 

The system of testing each student equally. Glorious. Well then, let me ask you something- Are all of us equal? Fundamentally we all have the same emotions and the same construct. However, our personality makes us human. Distinct from every species that walked on earth. We greatly vary from one another. We have different purposes and motives. For you, baking a cake might be simple, but playing the violin is not your cup of tea. So aren’t we unequal in a million different ways? 

This system reckons us to be robots. In our previous blog about it, we mentioned that it kind of does. Industrialism in England influenced most education systems in the world. Clerks (whose creativity had been sucked out) were the need of the hour. But the hour has passed, and we need to satisfy different needs. The future is uncertain. This uncertainty must cause some change in the present. The futuristic times are closer than ever. Here we are, analysing Shakespearean works because it’s necessary. 

The point is, our schools teach us information that is no longer required to run the world. The testings are ridiculous. Are we testing knowledge or memory? Memory is undeniably necessary. The question is, how much memory? Memorising Newton’s laws seems of much higher value than their application! Textbooks have become our worst enemies. They prove to be the most useless medium of learning. Such flaws yet much regard is given to these numbers.

Indian Aunty might pop out and ask you, "But Sundar Pichai is so successful! he also studied like you are supposed to!". This is the same logic as asking a fish to climb a tree. You are not him, he is not you. God, this aunty really needs to watch 3 Idiots.

Testing has created competition. And not all excel in the field, but participation seems compulsory. Tuitions are a cheat sheet for such exams. Their fees are as extravagant as caviar with champagne. Social democracy my foot! An extra advantage for the coaching classes, and absolutely none left for the student. Hours of school and classes deprive one of childhood. Living? Nah that’s not what kids do. They suffer for an extra hour to ensure that they come closer to the perfect score. 

The nature of testing should be analytical at the school level. They shouldn’t be a deciding factor of your abilities. It makes sense to organise competitive examinations for UPSC, not for the students in schools. What we need to test is one's overall development. Instead of feeding our minds with arithmetic formulae, encourage us to construct buildings and solve puzzles. Ask us questions. Get our brains to think. Because currently, they don't. Our school work is not stimulating as it should be. Not all are meant for desk jobs and coding.

This blog is not for changing the minds of millions of people. In fact, it is for my artistic friend who is disappointed at her marks. It is for my genius friend, who excels with concepts in real life, but history exams annoy her. Mostly, it is for me, who thinks it's an achievement to get a perfect score in chemistry because I can't do one experiment if you give me the actual chemicals. We have better things to think about. Don't dwell on your marks, because they don't make sense. Read books, talk to actual humans, draw, dance, jump, etc. Screw marks.