Beware the Semester is Coming!


Beware the Semester is coming! This is what I came across  a couple of  weeks back as I was making my way back home from my ministerial place. For more than one reason it has food for thought on the educational practices carried out through out the length and breadth of our great country. These days we are quite familiar with sign posts that say "Beware Dogs In." But not so something like that I am mentioning right now. What does that mean "Beware the Semester is coming"? Obviously it means, come on students you have to score high in your exams; remember it is going to determine your life. To make your way through in life you have to mug up. The educational sector has become a  promising money-making enterprise in India. 


What makes me wonder at this statement is its hidden meanings. Is the semester something to be feared? What if  I don't score as every one thinks I should? May be it's worth asking what if I score high as every one thinks I should? Does that make a world of difference, my marks, the power of my mind to store more information? I think we are led astray in thinking that all that matters for us students is marks and that alone, by hook or crook we have to get digits that are valued much. Students who get digits that are esteemed are not wanting today. What we lack is commitment and the will to be genuine human persons. Public accountability has become the word of bygone centuries. Morals are thrown to dogs. Addictions, bribes, which is actually robbery, scandals of all kind have become the daily news these days. Every one wishes to get through somehow no matter on whom they trample.  The awareness of we taking the exams is not something like the awareness of frightful looking dogs, hungry to have a bite. It is one of the many tests of life to lead us towards an authentic human living. As we students let us look forward for the tests of life with the thought that life shapes though many tests rather than with a feeling of contempt.








Comments

Robert William said…
However, it is not how much we study but how much we remember makes us intelligent. If the semesters become a moment to gain knowledge then hats off. But if they become a chance to show off, we loose the meaning behind education. An education that does not allow us to live better can never be called education. Let us become real educators by helping someone to live better.
February 27, 2011 at 2:01 AM
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