“Sir, I want a 30 day leave, my child is in Boards”
“Bhai, aa channel connection cancel karvanu che. Mari chhokri Board ma che ne etle”
“Cant step out for the next three months man, he has his Boards and you know how he is.”
So it is March, the season of exams! The other day I read something in one of the leading local dailies and that left me truly agitated. There was this article that had interviewed some parents on how stressed they are about their child appearing for Board exams and how they cope with it.
The strategies, which I found ridiculous included- Not calling guests at home for a month, leaving your work and taking long leaves, or quitting altogether, strictly adhering to time as each minute is precious!
Now, I really wish to reach out to such parents and ask them to back off. If you are so stressed about the exams, of course, the child is going to extra stressed. By taking such extreme measures you are teaching your child that it is your job to ensure he gets better marks and not his. You are telling her that her marks are a judgment on how good parents are you. And God forbid if the marks are not good, the child lives in the perpetual guilt of having let you down.
And my dear media houses I am sure you know that you don’t just report news but also influence public opinion. While the article had a bit by a clinical psychologist disapproving of stress, the rest was filled with pictures of such parents and their silly strategies. When you run such articles, you endorse their world view. You implicitly encourage other parents to be such parents as that gets you your name in the newspaper. Such parents hold their head even higher for having made their children’s lives more burdened with exams.
I know this is the prevailing sentiment in the society but trust me there are also parents who are not giving their children a hard time. There are those who understand that marks do not make or break life and that the child is much more precious than the mark sheet.
If you don’t believe this or can’t find such wonderful parents, come to our school. We have plenty of them.
And lastly, my dear students, if you have studied through the years, you don’t have to worry about the exam. If you have not, then you still don’t have to because overnight things won’t change. But your life has just begun and believed me, you will get a million chances to make it better. So worry not about the exam. So, play, listen to music, take a chill pill and put in your best. Not your class best, not your school best. Put in YOUR best. And don’t worry about the rest.
So what do you think about such articles becoming mainstream? Do you think they influence our world view and should we do something about it?
3
July
