Last week I was teaching my class
at the Department of Business Management and during the process of coercing and
cajoling them to express themselves I was becoming a bit exasperated. We were
interacting for the first time and neither of us was too sure about the other.
Therefore probably and understandably so, the young generation was holding back
either out of non-confidence at best or indifference at worst. But I was
seeking a battle from the very first day and it was not forthcoming.
I expect students to blurt out
whatever comes to their mind; nonsense as well if worse comes to worst.
Education is about the process of learning which is much more important than
whatever subject matter which is easily available in the text books. By process
of leaning, I mean the manner in which we learn. This is an essential life-saving
tool and comes handy even in the future long after the student leaves the
institution. The student life phase is the only time when mistakes and allowed,
welcome and forgiven. The process of leaning is how we absorb our circumstance,
how we react to it, and how we overcome or allow to be overcome by it. This is the
real knowledge which a student is expected to pick up from school and college.
Subject contents are tools for the student to use, and they are expected to
carry them at the back of their mind. When the content becomes vast and unwieldy,
the student can resort to reference books. These subject matters also change
over time, become outdated and need to be refreshed. But all this is easily available
in numerous forms and therefore cannot be the primary reason why students go to
school and college. Unfortunately our education system is so skewed towards
examination that the impression the youngsters carry is that education equates
to getting more than passing marks.
In my opinion, for success in
life (whatsoever definition of success that one may align with) the three essential
factors are: Diligence, Confidence and Good Luck. Diligence means the discipline
and the ability to delve into details. The more one goes into the depths of any
subject and deciphers its basic strands with a clear understanding of its how
and why; more is the chance of success. But like I said it requires great
discipline and ability. Confidence is about being articulate about ones’
understanding of any subject matter, to be able to convince others or be
convinced by others. This power of expression is a leap of faith, faith in ones’
own self. Therefore essentially it requires that the student should be aware of
ones’ own self, own strengths and weaknesses. Good luck is of course simply
good luck. A calm mind and an all accepting disposition helps because then the
students learns to control the senses, think out solutions and not to over
react to difficult situations. Student life is the best time to learn all these
things.
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