The Girl Who Scored a Perfect 100
I woke up in the morning, prepared my tea, took the newspaper to have a quick peek at the headlines before rushing to prepare and pack lunch for my husband.
Here’s what I see- LUCKNOW GIRL DIVYANSHI JAIN SCORES A PERFECT 600/600 IN CLASS 12TH CBSE RESULTS.
I’m not elated, I’m just shocked and may be even disappointed at what kind of education system we’re preparing for the students ahead.
Do you realize that by generously marking a student’s copy in exam, you’re only preparing a breed that knows to strive for perfection and is later, unable to handle rejections?
In my Google search result when I just type in ‘Lucknow Girl’, I get four of the search suggestions show how desperately everyone wants to know how a perfect 100% score is even possible?
Let's just look at the subjects.
Sanskrit- 100 marks possible (because it's a scoring subject with Grammar base. The essays are often pre-prepared.)
History, Geography, Insurance and Economics- 100 marks possible in all these subjects because they're either facts based or number based.
My concern is English. How can CBSE decide that there's no better student apart from her (in the entire nation!?) who has written a good enough essay. Do you want to tell me that there's no scope or even a slightest of possibility that the essay could have been better? Of course, I haven't read the paper, but still. What are the odds?
We're preparing perfectionists who might not be able to handle rejections.
My cousin has remained bright student throughout her life, 1st rank holder. In her result last to last year, she was depressed just because she scored 98.9% and not 99%. I was shocked.
CBSE unfortunately, over the past few years, has remained extremely generous in marking scheme. It is only adding to the miserable Indian education system.
We're making students who learn to run this mad rat race and do not live to be average. Anything wrong in fierce competition? I guess not. But I strongly also believe that it is important to tell the kids that it's okay being average too. There's no harm in scoring 80% or even less than that.
90% has become a common sight in CBSE results now. It's not even a happy emotion anymore. When I was in school, getting 90% was rare. But if you just go on to distribute it like that, you are simply running the risk of demeaning and devaluation of a good percentage.
This is going to be a generation that wouldn't know how to face the real-life exams and be realistic.
This is going to be a generation that is so obsessed with a perfect 100% that they wouldn't know how to deal with life when they get 60%.
You aren't helping kids in stopping suicidal attempts; you are simply promoting it.
This is going to be a generation that doesn't know life beyond school curriculum. They're simply mechanized and conditioned for a perfect score and not for facing rejections, if any.
I don't mean to steal the thunder of this girl, but I'm genuinely concerned about where the Indian education system is headed? Are we simply producing the perfectionists and ignoring the averages? Are we simply breeding a culture where people aren't ready for facing rejections?
Life isn't a perfect 100. If anything, it is average!
Not getting a dream job, not being able to crack the competitive exams in one shot, heartbreaks and life's struggles are all real. Are we preparing the future kids for all this? Or are we really creating a sad generation that is most likely to easily fall into depression, anxiety, panic and other mental health conditions just because they only know of perfection and have never been realistic?
Think about it!
