The Great Indian Boards

With the board exams in full swing, one can see the students preparing for exams with great gusto. Be it Science, Commerce or Arts; students from all branches have to appear for boards. Indian students juggle between different subjects since childhood, but one has to choose one from the above mentioned three subjects after 10^th Standard. There has been a lot of criticism for the Indian education board about these exams which come twice in a student’s school life till he or she is 18; nonetheless I think they are necessary. 

If students plan a little ahead and take these exams in stride, they can actually learn a lot apart from their syllabus. You learn time management, determining the key points of any given matter, discipline and also competing. In a country like India with such a huge population, it is important to understand the theory of 'the survival of the fittest'. This doesn’t mean I think one should score great results in Boards. It is more important to see these two years as a very good demo version of what your professional life would be like.  Hence one should try and learn that from these instead of complaining about subjects they find difficult. Everyone has weak and strong points in life in general. It is important to determine those and work on the same smartly. That’s what the Boards teach you. Why not make the best out of the situation if you can’t get out of it?

While the Board system helps us churn out the best students, we lack in teaching a lot of other aspects of life in our education system. Thinking out of the box is something that is more important in life and also in all the professional fields. However, schools hardly ever teach that. Students are taught facts and imparted with knowledge, but they are not taught how to develop a “thought process.” While people may say it comes naturally, I say it can be developed. If students are given real life examples and some one on one discussion sessions with teachers, they would certainly start thinking on their own. Parents also play an important role in this. Along with helping them with homework, they should also communicate with them. Parents should not “baby talk” their children. “Oh lu lu lu” and "gee gee gaa gaa” will confuse your children. Moreover, it will feed their brains to act stupid exactly the way you do with them. Trust me it will hamper their thinking process. Do it, but maintain a proportion. By this I also don’t mean treat your kids like adults. Applying cosmetics on your children and dressing them like adults apart from fancy dress competitions and special occasions will confuse them further. In short, children should know what’s going on around them from an early age. They should have fun and enjoy their childhood to the fullest, but not while living in a fantasy world. Sports, puzzles, books and even video games to an extent are good for children.

Video game fascination takes an ugly turn at times. If one starts living in the virtual world and enjoys it more than the real one, their parents should immediately take precautions. I see so many teenagers wasting time due to these games. They are good if one plays them in a sensible proportion so as to develop a competitive spirit or even for a little relaxation. I wonder why we don’t have robots instead of the army? Why don’t we have a branch in education where people train robots to fight for the country instead of men? Artificial intelligence can’t always replace human intelligence, but I think we can put the gaming talent in good use. What say people? I know guys fantasize about fighting with a huge demon walking on the streets. Well, that’s really far-fetched, but they can definitely develop Science in some fun way which can also help their country while also fulfilling their crazy fantasy. Sounds crazy doesn't it? It won’t if someone makes it possible. I dream of a world like that.

Have you ever come across job postings that say they prefer candidates who can multitask? I am sure all of you have, as these days multitasking is the need of the hour in all professional fields. Then why do we have limits for which all subjects we can study? Why can’t we choose different subjects to study as we like? Studying two totally different subjects should be fun. Parents and teachers keep saying choose one subject and stick to it, but all subjects have been bifurcated from one big subject called “history”.  Ultimately everything is interrelated. You need to sort out what you like the most and stick to it eventually, but it’s OK to explore things before you come to it. Maybe you can don a lot of different hats...