DISMANTLING EXAMINATION SYSTEM

Right now there would be contrasting environment in various households. From ecstasy to aggression against children, based on what they scored.

Results day! Even more dreadful day than the examination times themselves. Parents and children both wait for the results with abated breadth; it’s a culmination of their parenting. Would you be able to stay proudly to everyone about their child’s performance or would you avoid phone calls.

For children it’s about would they get the promised ‘prizes’ or would they be subjected to a week of so called ‘counseling’ by parents, relatives, friends parents, tuition center coordinators, teachers, principal. How they would be told that they have potential, they are intelligent and its only if you could concentrate more, manage the time they waste on facebook, internet, games and sleeping. It’s déjà vu for a lot of children. Going through this process  year on year and yet not being able to break the trend.

For parents whose children have scored exceptionally well may think that this article is not applicable for them. I would say that this is more applicable for them as we need to create a new context of examination and results which would support them and their children in the long run.

First let’s look at the whole concept of examination and the purpose of examination and then examine the ecstasy and the travails of marks.

EXAM:

The most dreadful 4 letter word!! Even before we grew up to realize what a ‘4 letter word’ means – this 4 letter word ‘Exam’ had more impact on our mental, physical and emotional state than any other 4 letter word in the world.

The stress of examination has only increased. The number of suicides because of examination / stress of education is only increasing year on year. Depression, psychological disorders, stress, BP and diabetes during childhood – it’s all increasing.

The educational thinkers of our times thought they have cracked the ‘examination stress’ code by inventing the CCE. (Continuous and comprehensive evaluation). A system which would take away the load of measuring only the academic excellence and have children who are not academically ‘gifted’ some relief.  Great  thought! Sadly from thoughts to action the entire context has been lost!

Now we have started measuring children on all aspects – values, participation, self confidence, appearance, projects, sports etc. and again the only measure we have is ‘marks’ and promotion to the next grade based on the marks.

What goes wrong again is that these aspects which are supposed to be AN ASSESSMENT TOOL – have become the end, measuring HOW WELL the child has DONE! And that brings about the end to the intention and thought behind CCE.

Come examinations – actually doesn’t matter if you call them Unit tests, 1^st term examination, midterm examinations, half yearly or SA (Summative Assessment)! – It’s the same old story or rather old story with fresh new punches.

“It’s a competitive world out there!”;

“You need to be the best”;

“You have the potential, if only you could concentrate/work a bit harder”

“You are taking this too lightly” ……

These communications starts with children class 2 onwards!!!  No sports, no TV, no parties, no movies, no outings.. The list (read restrictions) is endless.

Examination the paradigm shift

Exam is just a process to measure yourself against where you yourself are and where you want to be!!! PERIOD – it’s not about the other person faring better or worse.

 It’s for us to measure ourselves. The child to measure himself and then formulate the way forward! E.g. if a Child score 60%. Examination the assessment tool says – the child knows / scores 60 out of 100. Now if he wants to be at an 80 or a 90 then the results can be used to chart out the future course of action. Help him assess the gaps so that the child can focus on the gaps and achieve what he wants to vs. he being adjudged a failure / ‘nalayak’.

Examination is an assessment tool for the child himself and not for the teachers or parents to make a judgment on the knowledge, skills, attribute, attitude of their children.

The second part of the equation: is the focus given to marks as applicable to life as we think it is? 

Remember your school days. We have our classmates scoring less than us, scoring higher than us and their position, success, fulfillment in life has no relationship with the marks they scored. They may have scored much less than us but when we meet them / see them 20 years hence we can’t help but say “you! At this level! Doing this! I can’t believe this!”

At the end if you really examine it wasn’t marks which gets us anywhere (true that it provides an opportunity) but it’s our attitude, skills, confidence, self esteem, and endurance which holds us in the long run.

The way forward:

1. Let’s focus and nurture the child’s self esteem, self confidence and the will to get up and face a set back vs. telling him how ‘less’ he is.
2. And let’s look at examination results as an assessment tool to plan out the next steps. Sitting with your child to understand the gaps and plan out the future.

Every day of life is a test of your endurance, ability, sensitivity, humanity, tolerance, skills, knowledge… what are we preparing them for – a periodic exam at school!! – Let’s make exams so routine that life and its ups and downs becomes just another day to live, enjoy and move forward!!

Written by Sushant Kalra, Founder Director of Parwarish Institute of Parenting Pvt. Ltd.

MY HOPE NAMED TANISHQ

As part of project to train teachers at a reputed school, I had just finished having an intense conversation with an English teacher. It had ended on a note where the teacher had resisted and refused to believe all children are capable to think and frame answers of their own. She had finally stood up and said in exasperation ‘Show it to me’.
Next morning I had entered the fifth grade, glanced at the kids and told the English teacher to assign me her worst student. This is how Tanishq came into my life. The teacher asked the students to write the first question from the chapter she had taught the previous day. Instead of writing the answer on the board, as per my request she asked them to frame the answer on their own. The students looked here and there, not being used to this kind of freedom. I declared to the class that the first question will be answered by Tanishq. Blood drained from his tiny face, his fingers trembled as he held his copy and stood up. I made him sit down and gently repeated the question to him. He was too nervous to think. I calmed him down by talking in whispers, urging him to answer. In broken English with many grammatical errors he spoke one sentence. I guided him to frame it correctly. It took us full ten minutes to get the first sentence right. I could see the whole class was getting impatient. I demanded attention of everyone saying you all got to understand the process of framing answers. The next sentence took us another ten minutes. Practically in the whole class of 35 minutes we could answer only one question. The teacher had a smirk on her face in a way saying ‘See I told you it won’t work’. As of me, I had seen Tanishq smiling at his copy and that was enough for me. The entire exercise was repeated over the week.

Next week one day I had randomly entered the fifth grade. The same teacher had moved on to another chapter and had asked to write an answer. The students excitedly raised their hand. One of them was the hand of Tanishq. This time the teacher looked at me and smiled. Till date when I get disillusioned or doubt at the power of a teacher, I remember Tanishq and thank him for making me believe in the ‘no-limitness’ of children. 

Written by Manmeet Narang, A freelance trainer with Parwarish

How to handle a Disobedient Child?

According to the dictionary, ‘disobedient’ means neglecting or refusing to obey. As a part of growing up, almost all the children disobey their parents at some time or the other. They defy the wishes of their parents when they don’t behave or act according to the parents’ will. As children grow they discover their individuality and express themselves.

Disobedience is one way for children to experience and achieve a sense of independence in their life. As they try to become more independent, minor conflicts occur with the parents and that is when they discover the boundaries of their parents’ rules and also their expectations from the child. Sometimes these minor conflicts become a routine and that changes the way parents and children interact in their daily living.

Sometimes, parents may not understand a child’s needs, wishes, and feelings and children should not be so intimidated by parents that they will not or cannot argue their case. Also, the child is not to be so inclined to obey or bow to authority that he/she grows up to be slavish. The issue is not how to command obedience, but rather how to encourage a child and parent to communicate with each other so that they have a win-win situation.

WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?

1. First, the parents, themselves, need to determine which of their children’s undesirable behaviors are really important enough to discourage and which other misbehaviors are trivial.
2. If the child is persistently disobedient, examine the source of his disobedience. These may include the family environment, how members of the family interact with each other, do the family members show respect to each other, how the family resolves it’s conflicts, is there any violent outbursts in the family, problems occurring in the child’s school etc.
3. When your child is obedient and respectful, compliment him for that behavior. Also, parents are example for their children and how they interact with them and other members of the family will influence the child’s behavior. He will learn to be respectful if you are respectful toward him and others in the family.
4. Co-create consequences with the child to achieve a win-win situation. First empathize with the child to see if something is bothering him/her. Understand the reason of the behavior, acknowledge his feelings and thoughts. Post that have a dialogue on how the situation can be managed in an amicable way – by understanding the consequences of our actions.

Written by Namrita Singh Chhatwal, Parwarish Institute of Parenting