Beyond Marks: The Lessons that Last a Lifetime

Superficial intelligence is the same as the lack thereof; a person with this type of intelligence

may be prepared according to teachers and peers, but due to their lack of experience, disappoint thoroughly.

 Learning goes far beyond textbooks to build thinkers, problem-solvers, and compassionate human beings.

It isn't necessary that everything you learn in school will show up at points in your life. It isn't necessary that what you learn outside school will never show up in your life. Though it's a rudimentary way to explain it, I stand by this explanation: the lessons we learn beyond the classroom, whether they may be academic or not, whether they're looked down upon by your peers and elders, still contribute significantly to your life. Life is unpredictable, and you never know what it throws at you. These life lessons might just help you overcome difficulties and solve problems.

We've all heard about Gurukuls, which were abundant in ancient India. Students there not only learnt academic knowledge but also life skills, like how to be organized and disciplined.

I'm not promoting the Gurukul system, but what I want to say is that these lessons have always been a part of students' learning, both inside and outside the classroom. But today, the situation is different; the current educational landscape is more of a dog-eat-dog one. One of intense competition and pressure, mounting and building up on students' backs, where some may succumb, but others don't. These days, we rely on memorization as a sign of intelligence, and I just want to ask: When all you do is regurgitate, when will you create something of your own?

These questions might not sit right with many, but must be asked to promote improvement and actual intelligence. Today, we intend to go beyond those lessons taught in the classroom,

beyond the superficial walls built around a student that prevent him from being creative and take the essence of learning away, to replace creativity with an overreliance on rote learning. Cutting the students' newly grown wings, and letting them go to waste, instead of soaring up into the sky of possibilities, dreams, and hope. But how can this be when the vast majority of Indian citizens still rely on rote learning? This is why life skills must be taught as well. Practical knowledge is as important, if not more important, than theoretical knowledge. Instead of looking for the next Ramanujan or Einstein, why shouldn't we first look for someone ready to face the challenges of the world? Someone who's prepared enough not to give in to force or succumb to external difficulties.

The lessons we learn beyond the classroom, like kindness and responsibility, must be properly acknowledged, not as a passing remark but as a true appreciation for what we're learning. These mustn't just be taught through books or tested with a multiple-choice exam but must be assessed by how well we treat others and how much we truly believe in these lessons through our behaviour.

These lessons might be inferior in the eyes of others, those who look down on anything extracurricular, those who strive to excel in their jobs, but not as a person. But a true person can only be moulded by these values; you aren't called human because of your knowledge in math or science, but because of your empathy.

You can't learn how to make the right decisions just by excelling in your studies; some things can just be learnt outside those superficial walls. The oppression of these lessons might result in students who have good knowledge of subjects but have no intelligence and discipline other than the artificial discipline enforced in school.

Superficial intelligence is the same as the lack thereof; a person with this type of intelligence may be prepared according to teachers and peers, but due to their lack of experience, disappoint thoroughly. This isn't to criticize those who do depend on this, as we're all just products of a broken system, with the outliers being scattered into the unseen and unheard corners of the present, just to emerge valiant and victorious.

These lessons we learn beyond the classroom aren't just for namesake; the name they have is powerful but unrecognized, just like their impact. It's all just memorization until you find there's another world of kindness and forgiveness. Something that can't be grasped by the hands of the education system. Something so simple to learn, but almost impossible for the system to understand.

The experience we have determines our future, and the future we have is dependent on what we learn. Even the most brilliant minds of history would be nothing if they didn't have good knowledge of these life lessons. What i want to say is that we might be better than others, but to be the best, we need these learnings that a textbook can't cover and explain. Learning and memorizing facts in a textbook might be a piece of cake, but you truly aren't educated until you learn of these. They might get overshadowed these days, but their shadow looms over the very bookish knowledge you're proud to have.

In conclusion, what I mean to say is that the lessons we learn in class are of no value if they aren't supplemented and supported by the lessons that can't be taught under the roof of a building we call 'School'. Though a school is important for imparting knowledge and creating relationships, it has the drawbacks of being too dependent on memorization, replacing creative integrity with cramming. Only when life lessons are learnt alongside academics do we grow not just as a student, but as an individual and member of society. What we should be measuring isn't marks, but our understanding and application of those lessons, and the personality we have.