THAT BREED IS RAISED IN A DIFFERENT KIND OF TANK...
Pic.: Aparna Khanolkar Sheth
“Genius is initiative on fire.”
I have just come out of my class. My twelfth-standard
students were to write a test on a particular chapter today. Before the class,
I told them, that I would be giving them a simple problem to solve. In fact,
there was one point, which was slightly tough. I, even, gave a helpline before
the test, by helping them how to deal with it. ..
The test began. They had to complete in twenty minutes...
But, even after fifteen minutes grace-time, they were still struggling to
complete it!
I don’t make a big deal about this test-business in my
teaching profession. But, I do make a big deal about my students’ attitude,
commitment, focus, hard-work, goals, persistence and passion...
So, even after the goof-up, today, I wasn't telling them,
that they needed to score well in their future tests and the final-exams... I
was telling them this:
“My dear students, there is a different beauty when you
set your goals on your own and pursue them with all your passion. There is a
massive difference between I telling you to set your goals and you doing it on
your own... There is a real big difference between I telling you to be committed and passionate and
you telling it to yourself... There is a hell-lot of difference between
motivation from outside and the motivation from inside... The quality of going
the extra-mile should come from the zest within... You know, there are so many
text books... Your friends learn from other teachers... What stops you from
learning from all these sources? Why do you depend on me so much? Spoon-feeding has destroyed all your creative
powers... Yes, there is a huge difference between learning this way - through
spoon-feeding - and discovering or exploring on your own...”
Then, I told them something, which, I sensed, all of them
liked. “But, then, my dear young-friends, that breed is different. That breed
is raised in a different kind of tank... Not this kind... Imagine the kind of
tank your favorite Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey
Brin and the rest of their kind were raised... Nobody fed them with a spoon... Nobody
kept a gun on their head. They did on their own... They were raised in their own
tanks...”
Yes, I sensed, this morning, that my young-students did
like this part of my long lecture... Rather, my long, morning-sermon!
“Now, go home,” I had warmly concluded, “I love you all.”
GERALD D’CUNHA
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