Destroying creativity

I stood at the teacher's desk, flipping through the pages of my answer script. I was waiting there because the teacher had not marked me for one question which I had answered correctly. Others stood in a long torturous queue behind me, for the same reason - to get extra marks. The teacher read my answer and smiled at me. Then she added a 3-1/2 for the 4-mark question and signed her name. I thanked her and quietly retreated to my desk.

As I sat down, I was struck by a new thought. A tiny voice said: "you knew you had written the right answer. Isn't that enough? These extra marks will not make a big difference in your life." I wondered if it was my conscience speaking. "There is nothing wrong in asking for marks which I really ought to get ..." I argued.

"There is nothing wrong," the voice exclaimed, "but doesn't the fact that you have answered correctly satisfy you? Do a couple of marks matter? It is knowledge that matters..." I heard no more.

The words lingered in my mind. "It is knowledge that matters..." How many feel that way? Not many. Why do we prefer marks to knowledge, and memorising to remembering? The answer is obvious. This is what the examination system has done to us. It has destroyed creativity and proved its potential to do irreversible and irreparable damage to the lives of students.

Many no longer analyse and understand things. Why take the trouble when we can get marks just by memorising. What sort of students are we and what kind of citizens will we make?

It is time the system is changed to one which marks students on knowledge, and not on memorising capability. But I don't expect everyone to feel the same way...

SRUTI SRIVATSAN, XIB

P.S. SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL, Chennai

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