We still live in an age where grades matter to our children and us. We still have to look beyond the other brighter side and live to accept the fact that a child scoring lower grades can be successful.
We are living in an era where we talk a lot about conceptual thinking, building concepts, educational technologies used as teaching aids for our children for overall development but when we see our child’s report on a PTM day, it is the A+ grades we search for and a lower grade is disappointing. Since our childhood it is drilled into us that good grades prove intelligence which is not true in this 21st Century.
Examinations are part and parcel of the education system and they are here to stay, let’s face it right from the Vedic period to the British era, the exams are here to test what we know. We cannot do away with the education system and hence cannot ignore the grades. We need to know how to deal with it.
Most of the students’ important qualities are hard work, patience, creativeness, honesty, leadership, sense of pride and so on. In the 21st century curriculum framework it is rightly projected that the future lies with those children who posses these qualities in them. Through the present exam system, only the memory of the child is judged.
As mentioned by John Dewey Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.
As told by Bill Gates, ” I failed my exams in some subjects and my friend passed. Now he is an Engineer at Microsoft and I am its owner”.
The major reason for mentioning this by the great man was that exams are important in life but it’s not life itself. It helps to know who you are and what you want and that has it all!
The 21st century child will have to receive training in skill or talent; so that in future, he will be more successful than a child scoring A+. In today’s world Emotional stability plays an important role in being successful instead of IQ level of an individual.
Today there are great opportunities in different skills like Cartoonist, Chef, Choreographer, Guitarist, dancer, Hairstylist etc. Education is about learning and gaining knowledge and not about rote learning.
The only important thing is we need to change the approach and look for life beyond A+
Harshada Ghule
