Genius Murdered....

Now that exam season is over, it’s time for results. Suddenly every parent whose child is in the 10th or 12th is having anxiety attacks and insomnia. For all those poor souls who have just completed their 10th, you have my sympathies. No really, all you poor devils are in a total quandary aren’t you? I’m yet to meet a tenth grader who has made up his/her mind on which stream they want to pursue. Add to that the age old Indian concept, “science is what you should take!!, commerce is for average students!! Arts???? That’s for losers who just want a degree, not smart kids like you!!”
If I ever manage to find the Einstein who came up with that theory, I’d love to siphon their brains through their nostrils, fry it till its burnt( yeah, actual bheja-fry) and blast it off to space!!! No, don't worry, I’m not a deranged psychopath, just another frustrated kid.
I admit I’m lucky my parents don't follow that ancient ideology but I still have friends and family who’ve been bound in the chains of yore. And it isn’t really fair is it?
Unfortunately, the education system in our country is such that intelligence is measured by the amount of facts you can cram into a bundle of nerve cells that rest a foot above your body. Every parent wants their kid to be the first in everything. But you’re not going to have a first unless there are people behind right? Ok that’s not what I meant. What I’m actually trying to say is, why not appreciate a kid for what he/she is? Why is art or sport or dance just a hobby? Someone who aces in sports may be average in class but so what? Isn’t the fact that he’s better at something other than studies count? Why is it so difficult for an Indian parent to accept musical genius over intellectual prowess? And I’m talking about Indians only because, face it, we have a major problem here and I’m sure all of us have seen this happen at some time or the other.
The burden of expectations that parents place on their kids has led to a generation that doesn’t know how to accept defeat gracefully. The fear of losing has led to two types of kids, the aggressive ones who can’t take defeat and those who give up with just one failure. Parental pressure forces many kids to take up careers that hold absolutely no charm for them. In the end, they either drop out, give lack lustre performances or in extreme cases (which have become quite regular these days) end their lives. Those who get through with it aren’t happy either.
For those who’ve been through it, you can’t change the past. But what you can do is make sure that you don't commit the same crime your parents did in the future. I know “crime” is a strong word. In the end our parents just want what’s best for us. But if suppressing a kid's natural ability isn’t a crime, then I don't know what is.
It’s high time we woke up to the fact that genius doesn’t have to be just intellectual. We always say each child is special, well, it’s time we believed it too. There was a time when being left handed was considered unnatural, now we know that a left hander is just as good as a right hander, sometimes better. If we could get past that, then this shouldn’t be that difficult should it?
Its common knowledge that Einstein and Edison were duds in school. They dropped out of school and yet, today we’re studying facts that the drop outs found out. We try to learn from others mistakes, so why are we missing the point here? Wake up people, can’t you hear the siren??