By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC
Sometime back I had met a girl studying in 9th std. living nearby during summer holidays. She had mentioned to me that she was interested in taking coaching for badminton and swimming. But later on I came to know she was busy the whole summer attending coaching classes from evening 5 to 9 pm! Preparatory for 10th board exams! The rat race for getting top marks for the board exam begins two years in advance? You ask any child in Mysuru what she wants to be in her life, the standard answer is either a doctor or an engineer. Unlike yesteryears, when the choice, of course, was very limited nowadays the students have a varied choice of careers and courses. The society also has to take some blame for this. If a student says that he or she wants to be a scientist or a teacher, he or she is laughed at and discouraged. Contrast this with another girl neighbour I met very recently. She was attending dance classes, taking badminton coaching and very relaxed. I jokingly asked her as to why she was not joining this rat race. The girl’s young mother’s reply was, “Sir, I want my daughter to enjoy her life, studies are important but life is not studies alone. With hard work she will succeed and become a lawyer like her grandfather but she is definitely not joining this rat race for getting ninety percent marks.” I really wish more mothers think this way. Two contrasting children: One struggling with her time, huffing and puffing, studying day in and out, just to get a ninety percent and above and the other enjoying life but sure that she would score enough marks to get placement in whatever she wanted. Sometimes I wonder is it right for us to rob our children the pleasures of childhood? The other day I was watching the interview of Indra Nooyi, the ceo of Pepsico, who gives the credit of installing discipline, to her mother. It seems her mother would make both the sisters stand up and ask them to give a talk, “What would I do if I was the Prime Minister?” She goes on to say how those days they had no TV, no internet or even a working phone but still they could study and play every day. During holidays they did not study but play the full day. Nowadays children also play the whole day but on the computers and cell phones. Melinda Gates’ children don’t have smart phones and only use a computer in the kitchen. Her husband Bill Gates spends hours in his office reading books while everyone else is refreshing their home page. Mark Zuckerberg wants his daughter to read Dr. Seuss and play outside rather than use Messenger Kids. Top private schools in the US have banned electronic devices for Under-11s. Ironical, the more money one makes out of tech industry, the more one shields their family from its effects! It is also a fact that there were committed teachers those days who would go all out to impart knowledge and educate students. I still recollect my school days. We had a Head Master Rajgopal, who used to teach english poetry. Would you believe it, 50 years later, even today I am able to recite some of the poems. Such a deep impact. The school, Hindu High School, Chennai, was not a fancy convent too. Education now is a big business and slowly going beyond the reach of common man.
