The path to one’s Profession- A Tentative breakdown of the Education system.
Acquire an adequate primary education. Choose a career to determine your life in your mere teenage
years .Excel in high school education alongside extracurriculars. Get accepted into a prestigious
institution. Attain said degree. Practice it in the workforce and gain financial stability.
Seems like the perfect structure to a successful life in society.
Yet if you underperform in any one of the aforementioned procedures, the consequences are severe to
say the least.
So then what does owe to the severely unhappy young teens in the world of academia and burnt out
adults in the workforce? Surely if a perfect structure has been provided to broad minded , capable and
creative individuals, an ideal society should be thriving as of today.
The answer lies as early as the first time we’re given back a graded examination. Let me further clarify.
The Grading SystemThe first measure of worth a student comprehends is that ‘Grades are directly proportionate to a
student’s intelligence’. 6 arbitrary letters are a direct representation of a student’s worth .That in itself is
not only problematic to say the least, but most importantly; it is simply inaccurate.
Grades- Reflection of Learning or simply Memory?
The current education system teachers us to memorize, recite and then forget. On this basis we’re
assigned a variation of numbers which ties directly to our self worth.
A student who could accurately remember around 90% percent of the information at hand is assigned
an A. Whereas the student who could only muster around 50% gets an F.
Now let’s correlate to this to what a student has learned There’s no explanation as to what got a student
the grade they achieved. Some may have understood the topic sufficiently but simply cannot apply it
accurately to the exam paper understudy.
‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it
will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein.
Just because a student accurately recited back 90 percent of the content does not mean the student is
an intelligent individual.
It simply means the student is a perfect example of memorization machines which the education system
succeeded in manufacturing, a Pawn in the game of the academic world.
Non- Academic Factors:
Whether its ones intention or not ,implicit biases are always prevalent upon initially interacting with
people.
Unfortunately for students, attendance , participation, behavior, ability and access to learning are all
determinants for their eventual academic grade. Some of these factors may be completely out of a
students area of reach, the most common being issues as trivial as handwriting- which takes away from
the individuality and personalization a student has to add.
Any mindful individual of the management sector in the world of academia- would not let the
aforementioned factors be the determining cause of a students grade which would eventually keep
cascading well into ones professional life.
However, in todays day and age ; especially the crippling state of our education sector, such just figures
are scarce and select few choose their morals over submitting to the actions of the majority.
Grades and their link to Self-Worth- A deprecating practice left unaddressed.
A good student is defined by their grades. Let’s rephrase that. The worth of young teens and children as
individuals is defined by their grades.
Young teens in the educational sector, are worrying about what topic will show up in their next exam
papers as of right now.
The same teens who’re supposed to discover their passions, interests and develop as humans in these
formidable years of life are more concerned about whether they’re averaging an A grade rather than
their morals, what they want to contribute to society as an individual, or how they wish to express their
creative freedom.
To say that this practice not only isn’t prevented yet encouraged is concerning is an understatement.
Teachers, Adults, Parents are all actively promoting for students to spend days and nights struggling in
the name of studying only to achieve a single grade which is then compared with every other student in
the vicinity, So that the worth of their students is actively dangled in front of every other individual;
displayed for everyone to judge. And pass unrequited opinions on.
No wonder teens in the 21st century struggle with self-worth, representation and deprecating mental
health issues more than any other.
Peers in the education sector may not bat an eyelash to this statement. Most people reading this
probably won’t stop to consider that the system might be flawed.
Which is of course, expected- That in itself is the epitome of disappointment.
The Inevitable Conclusion of the Education Sector:
Let’s say a student does succeed and make it to the actual Workforce Sector. Inevitably one realizes how
the knowledge learned all throughout their educational timeline, is in fact not practically applicable.
Reliability, Dependability, Communication skills, Conflict resolution, Marketing skills, Enthusiasm, and
Ambitiousness are all morals not only valued but rather required in the workforce.
15 years or more spent in the educational sector, yet all one learned to do is obey commands. A pitiful
realization that proves to be extremely crippling when one has to repeatedly function as a financially
contributing member of society.
Mostly, the inevitable conclusion are burnt out adults- relying on a career chosen in either haste, doubts
or simply on the basis of what is deemed successful for maximum financial accruement . But at what
cost.
Ayesha Siddiqua Azeem.