Let me have just a few moments of yours to make you ponder over what I call “The 2 Ms ”
There are the two significant aspects of human life as realized by the world today, you will agree as I continue.
The 1st M – MARKS
The health and wealth of students. The entire purpose of our current education system. The factor that is used to predetermine a student’s performance in the system.
Well, these might be some of the meanings of marks that pop into our heads at the first sight of the oft-heard word in the academic world. It would really be sensible to think over it from a different perspective. At least that is what I feel.
I’d start by saying that marks are just integers. Yes, you heard it right, just plain numbers. It might mean everything to a student. In fact, it should, to a certain acceptable extent. But our system has been designed in such a manner that the ones without decent values of these integers are not looked upon with much respect and interest. This is the drawback that is indirectly and unavoidably curbing creative and knowledgeable minds in the making. If a student gets less marks, he has a tendency to lose his confidence and faith. The reason for the less marks?
Rote. Parrot learning. That’s what the system encourages. Understanding and learning of the subject is made secondary. One does manage to understand quite some times, but the result of putting it on paper during the exam in the “understanding approach” is neither pleasing nor amusing. The result is the obvious. Less marks. And then we complain about Indian students going abroad and settling there. Hah! How convenient. If we had a better educational system, would anyone have considered going abroad? If we had the best system possible of such a stature that there are no loopholes or drawbacks, would 1.6 million Indians be living currently in USA? As for the brain drain issue, I’ll come to it later. The educational system was made by the academicians centuries ago, and since then we have done little but follow it blindly and unreasonably.
The answer for the education system lies with us and within us. It’s high time we started reconsidering the way evaluation of students is done and introduce appropriate measures so that the upcoming young innovators are not lost in the abyss just because they did not possess a few integers!
The 2nd M – MONEY
Yes, money. Makes life heaven some say. An entire lifetime of man revolves around it. The key step to fulfilling any dream.
Those are the general mind-sets of people. It is said “Money cannot buy happiness”. But the world now has changed so much; I think it wouldn’t be entirely incorrect if I say “If you want happiness, you should have money.” That’s how the world has made it to be. You have money; you indirectly have the key to everything.
Well having money does have its own advantages and privileges. But what pains me is the time when one doesn’t have it, or rather I’ll say when one is in the progressing stage, the way society holds an image of you is completely different when the same individual has at a later stage accomplished and achieved something commendable and noteworthy, both figuratively and monetarily. This is something that will be endless perhaps, and we might have to make it a part of us someday. But this perception cannot and should not last long. A person’s worth should not be, by any means judged by the weight of his wallet. We can change this perception only by having greater awareness and broader minds.
Well to sum up, the 2 M’s are certainly of magnum importance in life, but should be achieved in a manner that is healthy and competitive. The eminent successful personalities of the past and the present have shown perfection with regards to handling both these M’s. So let us learn from them and be successful in the future!
Nikhil Nayak
Fourth Year, Computer Engineering
D. J. Sanghvi College Of Engineering
