Few days back NEET results were declared and hundreds of students were selected for MBBS. It isn’t easy to qualify this exam. It needs hard work, dedication, and consistency. Lakhs of students appear in this exam and only a few thousand are selected.
Lakhs of students weren’t able to make it, making some heartbreak. In this part of world parents scold their kids for not qualifying these types of exams and compare them with the people who qualify it. This makes them insecure, vulnerable and affects them mentally, and emotionally. They should understand that this type of failure is not an end, rather they can do much better than this in life. There are countless great people who failed in exams and created legacy, did best in life which most of us can’t even dream of.
The genius Albert Einstein was kicked out of school for failing in history exams. He wrote brilliant papers which revolutionized Physics. He was unemployed when he started writing papers. It was then his father wrote a letter to W. Ostwald, famous chemist for his job, when Einstein was depressed. Saadat Hassan Manto known as best Urdu short story writer, and among the greatest in the world in all languages, failed twice in Urdu (the language in which he wrote best) in tenth standard. Sir Allama Iqbal about whom it is said Muslim world couldn’t produce any philosopher after him failed in assistant commissioner exam because of an eye disease. He completed Ph.d from Munich university. He started his Ph.d in June 1907 and completed in November 1907 on the his bachelor’s thesis “Development Of Metaphysics in Muslim Persia”. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google failed to get admitted in Sri Ram College Of Commerce. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi lost one eye when he was just 21 and captained Indian cricket team at the age of 22, becoming youngest in the world at that time which was the record for decades and later broken by Zimbawean cricketer turned priest Tatanda Taibu after many years. K.Asif was just a tailor yet directed, produced best movie “Mughle Azam” in Indian cinema.
What is the moral of these stories? The potential of a child is not always gauged mechanically and within the matrix of competitive exams but they are stimulated, channelled in their right maturation period. Parents in Kashmir have regrettably reduced their aspirations to certain variables and throughout ages want to test child against them. We can’t blame parents for it, it is the outcome of capitalist society. Know professions like Doctor, Engineer, Civil Servant etc., are pursued exhaustively leaving other domains unexplored. We need good writers who can make us smile, we need archeologists who can acquaint us with the better past and we need geologists who will think about our safety. Every society’s aesthetic domain is sustained by artists and to create an artist, we have to create freedom of thought. A freedom to bloom. Parents have a role to play in making our society better and save the young from malaise of depression and suicide.
Parents should understand that it is children who have to live life for them not for parents. They should be with them at every step of life and support them in what they love to do. In the end what matters is satisfaction out of what a person is doing. In 2006, Russian Mathematician G.Perelman rejected fields medal (highest award in Mathematics known as Nobel of mathematics). In 2010, he rejected Clay Mathematical award. His answer was he does Maths for satisfaction not for award, fame or money. Same answer was given by genius Physicist Richard Feynman when he was given Nobel in physics. These things should open up our parents and inspire them to be with their kids!