The 'Class' System

The ‘CLASS’ system
October ends. November begins. And the buzz starts among the high schoolers; everyone asks one another, “Which class are you going to?” Maths, Science, English, there are tons of tuition classes to choose from; all promising expert teaching. And just when some naïve parents begin to heave a sigh of relief, the bomb hits them. Hey! You’ve got to first clear the entrance test of the classes. The poor parents, unbeknownst of the dangers of such tests, push their wards to study and appear for the tests. While some emerge out of them with flying colours, most come out losing colour. Too bad. The class is for the brightest ones, you see. Not for the average ones. And then once these scholars are taken under the wings of the teachers, they shine in the merit list or at the least get into the admission list of some prestigious colleges.

But ever given it a thought what happens to those who are shown the door at such classes? These poor students are not the brightest (read 95 % +) and hence lose out. So what if they have scored 85%? It’s too less. So what do these students do? Hide the stars in their eyes and dreams in their heart, and adjust to the harsh ways of the world? What about those wonderful quotes and sayings that rave about ‘Failure is the stepping stone to success’, what about the learning from ‘Edison’s own 10,000 failed experiments before he met with success’? Do they hold no meaning anymore? Do scores score high and not potential? Oh yes! The not-so-bright ones learn it the hard way. The truth about life. Results matter. Efforts don’t. They amount to nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Today, tuitions have become more like the caste system of yore. The bright ones are welcomed, the others treated as outcasts. Think! Is it fair to do so? To classify students even before they get a fair chance to prove themselves. Is it just to brand them as failures even before they start? But how does it matter to the teachers and classes who admit only scholars? Because, for them, it’s business. As usual.