Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The School Essay Competition


Years back around 18 to 19 yrs back, I had participated for the first time in my school essay competition. The competition was between class I to class V. I was in 3rd Std. Teacher gave us some 5 different topics before one week.They informed that on the day of competition there will be three topics from this five, and we have to select one. The topics were easy when I think of them now. And we had to write some 300 to 500 words. One topic among them was "The Cow".

When I approached my Dad that evening with the 5 topics. He chose this simple subject and told me,"To win any competition, you need to approach the most easiest subject with a different approach or else opt for something that is too hard".

Then he started dictating me the essay about the simplest subject("The Cow"). I most make it clear that he is far better in literature than what I am. He modified the subject ("The Cow") in a beautiful way, giving description about how many breeds of Cows are available not only in India but world wide. There was few points describing the quality of these breeds, the amount of milk they can give at maximum. And also there was some views related to Hinduism and our belief of considering Cow as the Mother. The essay was much bigger and contained more than 500 words. I read the essay some 3 to 4 times and prepared one or two more essays as well.

On the day of competition to my luck, the subject("The Cow") was included in the three topics. And I choose this. As per my belief I managed to write some 300 words and counted number of words before submitting the paper. I managed to get a third prize. When my father enquired about the competition to my teachers, their remark was something beyond imagination. They told, my essay was not something that a Std 3 student can write. It was far better, however being so young, I am not eligible to write that way, so they gave me the third prize even though my essay was far better than the one which won first prize.

Today, I want to ask my teachers, was it really the appropriate way to encourage your pupil? Its never the less all the essays were prepared before hand. Is it not the teacher who should encourage his pupil to think differently ? If a student approaches a better way to modify an easy subject, should the teacher stop that, saying you are not old enough ?

Might be I am thinking from my perspective, however few question still arise in my mind. The simplest question is why we send small child to school, how they start learning and thinking differently. Well I never encourage mugging something, as a young student I remember teachers dictating the essay from essay book. They were grown up, was not it their duty to think and make a passage? Is it what you wanted me to write down, something taken from any essay book. Or was it required for me to write Cow has two ears,two eyes and blah blah...

As far as I understand the teachers and parent should encourage the pupil to think differently and with a larger view than the mere bookish way. How to start and infuse that into a child's mind and psychology is what we need to understand and make it work. Gone are the days, but that was the day when I thought for the first time that a simple subject can be beautifully modified. That was first time when I realised nothing is simple, until I know the vast knowledge it could store in it.

2 comments:

  1. As a kid , we don hav much space to think inside our mind, so the Elders just helps to nursing that quality,, If a kid gets a right nursing , he will improve his/her quality and Finally Weather u a kid or Adult or an Old man,, Follow ur mind & Heart ,but before that ask ur soul IS THIS WHT U WANT..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Anonymous,

    Thanks for writting to me. My motto behind this article is just to show how elders enhance the ability to think in a child. The things that matter in building up a child psychology.

    ReplyDelete

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