Chintu studied for five years at a popular school in a large city. His school was quite in-demand and getting a seat there was difficult. There were many sections for his class and many teachers in the school. He was a decent student and fared ok — neither at the top of his class nor at the bottom. He would play with his many classmates, did not excel in any sport, but played them all. Then his father got transferred to a rural location in another state. There was only one school on campus, run by the government for those employees’ children. Each class was small, only one section, and there were few teachers — who also lived on campus. Chintu made friends easily, learnt the local language, taught them a bit of his own, and that year he topped his class. Teachers would call on him to read to the class, he was made class captain. He even became his school team’s cricket captain. There was a small group of competitive children in his class and they became thick friends, competing with each other to top the class. They all scored very high marks in board exams.
There are thousands of Chintus around the country and around the world who go through this experience. There are also thousands who go through this in reverse. This story is not over. Now in one version of this story, our Chintu could get into an IIT and find it extremely difficult to cope since the best from all over the country are suddenly crammed into his class. Or one of the students in his school who wasn’t the topper got into a college that wasn’t rated very highly but found his mojo and did well there, found clarity in life, and did extremely well for himself.
The analogy of a big fish in a small pond (or vice versa) is one we constantly refer to. Its reference is even more pronounced while debating about education. Do students who excel in small ponds do well in life when compared to those who are exposed to a large ponds? As parents and as people with an interest in education, we are all stakeholders in this discussion. At the end of the day, it is our decision which puts our child into such a situation. While it is true that we can realise our potential at any stage of life, our system in this country is so skewed that by the time we come out of college, the opportunities (or lack of) pretty much define the direction a person’s life is going to take. It takes incredible grit and determination to come out those offered choices and chart their own path after that — especially if coming from a family with meagre resources. While we have a lot of people who indeed manage to do that, it is a sad fact that most of our people don’t. And we seldom talk about them.
The entrance to IIT is touted to be the world’s toughest exam — in terms of syllabus and also considering the sheer number of people we have attempting it. Getting into top schools or colleges is extremely difficult in any stream or region. Universities routinely have crazy cutoff percentages for admissions.
A student who scored 98.75% would be celebrated in most cultures. My father would have thrown a party to our whole city if I had those marks! But if that is the university cutoff, it would mean this particular student, who probably was his class topper, has suddenly become the last admission to scrape through! Internationally, getting into Harvard or Yale or MIT is incredibly difficult. And after getting through either an IIT or Harvard or IIM or NID, if one suddenly realises that he / she is simply not good enough?? What does that do to their self-esteem? What about all those years the student and parents struggled for this goal? Thousands of students drop out of MBBS (which is the holy grail in our country) after actually managing to get a seat! People get into UPSC and then dropout! They qualify NDA and then dropout! Unbelievable, right? 🤯
In his amazing book David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell talks about class size and how it impacts a student and a teacher. He also talks about examples of people who got into colleges of their choice but couldn’t take the pressure. His examples are of American society exerting pressure on a kid while getting into college. We can take that pressure, push it through a 10x enhancer and then we probably reach the pressure level that crores of our kids go through!!
There is no easy answer to this.
At every stage of life, we go through this challenge. In education, in our career, in pursuing a hobby, in life. What do we call as ‘success’? Are a school topper with 70% and a school topper with 99% the same, because they’re both toppers? Are a sales manager who does 120% of his target turnover of crores in a metro city and a sales manager in a rural pocket who does 150% of a target of lakhs the same, because they both exceeded expectations? Who is more ‘successful’? Is graduating from Harvard — albeit at the bottom of the class more valuable than graduating from a mediocre college at the top of the class? How do we define it? How apt are the rewards, recognition, and opportunities at each of these levels to those people?
Can we rethink the pond?
I volunteer with a group that spends time with students of Govt schools teaching them English, communication, and life skills. This year, I worked with Class X at a Telugu medium girls school. Many of those kids are absolutely brilliant. They were confident, intelligent girls who undoubtedly would do well in life. But what if they were put into a different school with different expectations where children were gauged on the basis of their English speaking abilities? What would happen to their self-esteem and confidence built over all these years at this school? It is like that graphic we often see of a common exam for all animals in the jungle. The biggest ability these girls had was that they were leaders. Being a Govt school, senior kids had responsibilities beyond those of learning. And these kids were amazing! Leadership and teamwork are extremely important skills. But what if they get into an environment where these skills aren’t treasured at all? What if they don’t get an opportunity to showcase it and gain confidence from it?
Recruiters queue up at top colleges offering fat salaries. But those will go only to a select few students. The rest will probably get placed but at companies which they would not normally choose if given an option. When comparing themselves with their peers, would those kids be happy? Will they even take those jobs? Will they be happy at the beginning of their careers if they choose to join whichever company hires them? As a recruiter, would we rather select a student from the bottom-third of a top rated institution or would we prefer the best students from a college which isn’t as highly rated? If I were the recruiter, I would choose the second option every single time. But the flip side is that I’m not a top-recruiter offering CTC of ₹1 crore!
I had written a post a few months ago about the lack of ambition in our young people.
This post is a continuation of that line of thought, and there will probably be more in the future. What if the pond were re-oriented towards its basic principles — of getting every fish to swim well, be able to adapt to changes, learn to thrive in multiple environments, understand what they are good at, and then choose where they want to go? Who are we to define what achievement of theirs is treasured and what is not? Chintu had to move to a small school in another city to realise that he was good at many things. Can that be done in all schools? Can every child be treasured for what they are so they step out of school confidently and not worrying about what the future has in store for them? Can we show our society that whether they are a big fish or a small fish, whether the pond is big or small, it doesn’t matter as long as the fish knows how to swim well, thrive, and be happy? Because afterall, at the end of the day, that’s what matters!
