Some Original Thinking

While speaking of my transition from a junior college student to a senior college student, one thing that I’m currently undergoing is the competitive examinations. And let me tell you that they’re ample and annoying.

Well, in my case they are ample because I’m giving a lot of exams. From Engineering to Arts, the only exam I’ve not given is CPT for the CA entrance and the IIT-JEE. But I’ve covered pretty much everything else.

One thing I have realized in giving these exams is that they truly cannot gauge one’s aptitude for a subject. I saw this picture on Facebook in which a man sitting at a desk proclaimed to a zoo of animals, “To decide which the best animal is, we have arranged for a simple task as the examination – all of you must scale the tree behind me.” The comedy of the cartoon was in the fact that there were elephants and rhinos in the crowd of animals.

What defines an aptitude gauge for a student seeking admission? Is it just the Board and competitive exam marks? Or must the government see beyond those answer sheets and take a look at a student’s personality, his intelligence?

A relative in my family was talking about her neighbour. “Brilliant guy. He topped the CAT entrance and knew every concept in Business Administration. But he scored 56% in his 12^th Boards and failed his university exams. They chucked him out of the college without another word.”

Have grades overridden intelligence? Have textbooks replaced intellect? More importantly, do we even need intellect these days? It just takes a little bit of hard work, a little bit of luck, an attitude to accept rules without a thought and lots of money to get us admitted to tuition classes that can teach us everything we need to know about tackling entrance scenarios from an entrance exam to a personal interview. However, it takes less intelligence and more rote learning. It is often not a representation of what our point of views may be; it is a representation of what our point of views are meant to be.

I do not oppose people conforming to thinking within the box and not wondering beyond what we aren’t supposed to know, even if, for the sake of maintaining the rules and regulations of the organization we’re affiliated to avoid anarchy and annihilation of hierarchy. But does that mean squashing our one true gift given by God – freedom of thought? What difference is between man and other animals, apart from a conscience and an ability to think? I’m not trying to encourage stupid daydreaming or hatching plots to cause disruption on any scale. I’m simply telling people to achieve their life’s goals by doing some thinking on their own.

There was a time when people studied at night after working during the day. They had no help to get them through. But these days, with the opening of a plethora of tuition classes for every subject imaginable, the procedure of getting into the industry has been made an industry. And the universal, or rather, sole method of getting around in this industry is money. Apparently, the colour green doesn’t just allow cars to proceed; it also clears the way for you in a traffic jam of people.

Today as I sit in meditation of the exams I have recently given, a small fact makes me proud – that I studied for these exams on my own. How I have fared is something I don’t know as of now, but at least, the results are consequence of my hard work and not the spending of big bucks that are proof of my parents’ hard work.