Competitiveness

I was a very weird student.

George and my sister came with me  to enroll me at the medical college. As the car entered the hospital drive away, the one and only thought that was in my mind was ” I will not stay here a day more than the 5 years and will not fail a single subject”
By then, I had two years of education in English medium ( pre degree). I couldn’t speak English well. All I knew about Kannada was that all mallu words starting with pa can be changed to Kannada by substituting pa with ha and that the rule didn’t apply for patti ( dog). But I wasn’t worried about any of that. I just didn’t want to fail and be held back.

I attended the classes I thought was interesting, bunked the rest. I had 17 % attendance for anatomy. If I wanted to, I could have got 100% score for Anatomy. But I didn’t want to. I hated anatomy. All I wanted was to pass. 75 was the passing mark. I got 77. I can still remember sitting at the exam hall trying to see which question I must attempt to get the required 75 marks and I answered one extra question for that just in case scenario.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I knew the answers to all the questions. I didn’t care about getting the gold medal for a subject I didn’t like.

Now that I have children.. I was thinking about competitiveness.

Both Yaya and Toothless are gifted. Yaya has eidetic memory like me. Toothless on the other hand is a mathematician.
If they have a doubt, they come to me and I explain it to them. But other than that, I don’t teach them.

The truth is, if I sit with my children and go through their work and teach them like they do in India, my children will get 100% score.  But is that what education is all about? Does it matter that one must get A in all subjects?
Have I failed my children because I refused to encourage competitiveness in them?
I don’t think so.

This is what I taught my children.

Life isn’t a race as to who comes first.
Life is a journey.
In every race there is a winner and a loser. What matters is not that you won, but that you gave your best.
There is always someone smarter that you, just as there is always someone not as smart as you.
Every record you set forms the guiding mark for the next person to better your score!
All the medals and certificates you get only adorn the walls of your home and act as an extension of your ego and popularity. Life isn’t about decorated walls.
Life is about living each day..to wake up each morning with a happy heart, glad to live another day and sleep at night with thanksgiving to have had the chance to live another day on this earth.

Did I miss not getting the gold medal for Anatomy? Not at all.

2 thoughts on “Competitiveness

  1. By not answering the questions thta you knew in your anatomy test dont you contradict what you always say ..that you are not bother3ed about youir child's attainment as long as their effort is 100%?

  2. Geordy: Actually, my effort was 100%. If you have read the post, you would have noticed that I did mention,I knew all the answers. What I didn't do was to study for the gold medal. I studied for the knowledge.
    I follow the same ideology for my children. I don't want them to study to get an A. I don't give a damn about A. But I do care very much about effort in getting the knowledge, which in their case is about submitting their work on time, being polite, respecting the teachers and their classmates.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *