HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT











The Boards! The Board Exams! The Tenth!

If we haven’t worried over them, and felt the anxiety and dread – I mean, while we grew up, both, as children as well as parents – then, we are a ‘blessed breed’. I have some dreadful memories of my own ‘tenth’. But, when it came to my son’s, I was not at all anxious… Not because, he was brilliant in studies or exceptionally self-disciplined; but, because, having dealt with thousands of young boys and girls over a period of more than four decades – having seen them go through the same feeling, which I had gone through when I was of their age, I have developed a detached attitude towards the ‘results’, which is the outcome of our efforts.

As a teacher, I am very strict when it comes to young ones’ commitment to work. I lay a lot emphasis on their attendance, homework, concentration and behaviour inside the class… I insist on accountability, communication and being self-dependent… I encourage them to mind the company they keep, the habits they pick… I encourage them to dream, be passionate, feel inspired and remain highly motivated etc… And, yet, I never, ever ask them about their marks, grades and ranks… To me, it’s hardly important.

Marks aren’t important?

I should not mislead the young ones, and, I won’t. Marks definitely are important when they seek admission for the desired courses. Hence, they cannot afford to take their exams – their ‘Boards’ - lightly…

True. That far, that good…

But, how about reminding the young ones about the need to discover, early in life, what their hearts yearn as far as their fields are concerned? I think, a lot of emphasis has to be given in getting this clarity early in life. For, I believe, once this clarity comes in, the young ones need no one around them to keep reminding, coaxing, nagging and threatening… The clarity brings with it the required motivation… The young ones learn to do their work on their own and they, always, work hard enough .

As a teacher, my greatest satisfaction has been when I have succeeded in inspiring this awareness in my students… and not when they have scored hundred out of hundred or stood out in the class…

The wisdom, that, the failure in an exam is not a failure in Life… that, when you score lesser in exams, you do not become a lesser soul… that, your life doesn’t end, you still have hope, a future… Oh yes, I got this wisdom quite early and went about paving my own path despite my ‘poor’ marks… This wisdom has helped me to deal with my own son and thousands of students over all these years…

But then, the Boards are ‘Boards’… Exams are exams… Marks are marks…

I know they are…

But, I also know, the heart is heart… Dreams are dreams… Self-belief and self-esteem are what they are…


My friend and a Tai Chi fellow-learner Anand’s daughter will be giving her ‘Tenth’ – the ‘Boards’ – in two weeks. As he enquired about my health, this morning in our class, I enquired about his daughter. Yes, he did share with me the ‘story’ at home. Like me, he, too, did not believe in making a big deal about the Board exams… “It should not be a do-or-die situation in Life,” Anand said, “There is much more to Life than these exams.”

Then, Anand told me about the unfortunate incident in one of the families he had known. Apparently, the young boy in that family, who had failed in four subjects during his Tenth-standard Prelims, had ended his life, some days ago!

Something has helped me and my son to make it through the night; and, it still keeps helping so, so, so many young hearts every year…

Yes, that ‘something’ is this wisdom: Life is more precious than Exams!







GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Shoba N. Krishnan

Video: Kris Kristofferson/Mew Suay/YouTube

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