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, 1st 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:
- 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.
- 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.
Written by Sushant Kalra, Founder Director of Parwarish Institute of Parenting Pvt. Ltd.
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